Hear Me Now
by MyChemicalKilljoy
Summary: The day Ella stepped out of her brothers' shadows was the day she broke every rule just to prove her point. It was the day they fought alongside the Ghosts. It was the day she met him, the quiet sniper with the blue eyes. It was the day that changed everything. Keegan/OC
1. Prologue

**_I've played the Ghosts campaign three times over now and I absolutely cannot stop thinking about how much I needed to write a fic on it. It's just so. damn. good. This follows the same storyline, but might be a little AU in some parts seeing as Elias doesn't have a daughter, so don't say I didn't warn you! x_**

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My name is Ella Carrie Walker. Apparently my mom had given me a girly name in the hopes that I would grow up to be just that. Girly. Maybe if she hadn't died when I was so young, I would've, but she had left me to be raised by three guys.

Growing up with Hesh and Logan really had it's toll on who I was as a person. They taught me absolutely everything I knew today. They taught me how to be tough and honourable. They taught me how to stay strong and dignified, even when it felt like my entire world was coming down on me. Logan even tried his absolute best to help me out when I had boy problems since mom wasn't around for it. I tried to keep that side of my life away from Hesh because if he knew I was hurting over a guy for any reason at all, he would kick their ass into the middle of next month. Even though I was only a year younger than Logan, they still saw me as their baby sister and I guess they just felt the need to make sure I was always safe and happy.

We led a good life. Well, up until the day that Federation hijacked ODIN and tore up America. I would always remember the day that happened. The four of us had been out in the woods and Dad had just finished telling us a story about a group of warriors called Ghosts. We had all been so content, joking about how Dad was ridiculous enough to believe such nonsense, and that's when the tremors started. I had only been 16 at the time and I remember getting more and more scared as the tremors got harder and faster until it felt like Hell itself had opened up and was beginning to ravage the earth. We barely made it out alive that day.

10 years on, we were all grown up and we were fighting in a war that had been stale for a long time. Hesh and Logan had joined the military at the first chance they got after that day, but l'd had to wait a couple of years which was infuriating. It meant I was set back a few paces from them and I hated it. I always felt like Dad was more proud of them than anything and I was desperate to show him what I could really do. I wanted him to see that I was just as good as they were, and I had been willing to do anything to prove it.

When that time finally came, I risked termination and went against all of my orders to do it. Just to see the realisation dawn on my Dad's features that his little girl wasn't so little anymore, and to see the proud grins on my brothers faces when they realised that they had done a damn good job in raising their sister.

I should've said that I regretted it and apologised for being such an idiot, but I didn't. If I hadn't been so fearless in following that flying impulse, I would never have met Keegan. And the thought of not having him in my life was the only thing that scared me anymore.


	2. Rebellion

**_This is probably not the best first chapter ever, but I needed to get the ball rolling somehow! And I'm also gonna try my hand at starting chapters with fitting lyrics. I've seen it in a few stories and I really like the idea so yeah, why not! Enjoy :) x_  
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_If you think it's fixed, then you're just a fool,_  
_You can't change the world when you can't even find the truth._

_- Watch Me Shine (Fozzy)_

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It had been a few days since I had seen Hesh and Logan and I was starting to get bored on base. We were still on the defensive which meant there wasn't much for me to do. I had wanted to be part of the recon team that was scouting LA for any sign of enemy activity, but Dad had told me it was best for me to just stay where he could see me.

His words had me confused and wondering for hours. When I told him I was signing up to the military, he had been nothing but supportive and never once questioned me or tried to coddle me. He was the one who had pushed me the hardest in training, and now he was acting like this. I didn't understand.

Every time I tried to bring it up, he would find a way to change the conversation and just leave me hanging. I knew that he gave Hesh and Logan tests to teach them some sort of lesson and it was starting to bother me that I was the one left plundering. The only thing he seemed to be testing me on was my bloody patience.

I caught up with him on the fourth day of my brothers being away and decided to chance my luck, 'Dad? Where are you sending the guys when they get back?'

He turned away from the computer screen to look down at me. I wasn't exactly the tallest of people, but I wasn't exactly the shortest. Logan had taught me how to use it to my advantage one day when I told him I was sick of Hesh literally throwing me around, 'What makes you think I'm sending them anywhere?'

I rolled my eyes, 'I'm not stupid.'

He smirked and put a hand on my shoulder, walking me out onto the balcony. I breathed in the warm air and looked out across our base. I could only imagine how gorgeous the ocean would've looked without all the battle ships anchored by the beach line, 'I'm sending them home, Ella.'

'What?' I yelped. 'Dad, you can't be serious...' Our old home was right in the middle of No Man's Land. It was the most dangerous place to deploy anybody right now.

'I think they're ready.' He shrugged and put his hands on his hips. I watched the way he observed what he had helped build and maintain and I felt a pang in my chest. Would he ever look at me and be as proud as this?

'I'm ready too, ya know.' I sniffed and crossed my arms.

'It's way too dangerous for you out there.'

'And it's not dangerous for them?' My temper flared and I scrambled to keep my cool. I wasn't entirely sure where I got my anger from, but I'm pretty sure it hadn't been my mom. From the stories I had been told, she was gentle and sweet. She was in no way battle hardened and snappy.

'Ella, stop asking questions.' He rubbed his forehead and turned away. I followed him back down the stairs, trying to come up with a good argument, but when we reached the second floor, I completely forgot why I was irritated because standing waiting for us in the middle of the room was our German Shepherd Riley.

'Hey, boy!' I dropped to my knees and held my arms out for him, every trace of anger melting away as soon as he barked happily. He bounded forward and let me fuss over him for a few moments. I grinned when his tongue flopped out and made it look like he was just as pleased to see me, 'We didn't expect you guys to be back so soon!' I pushed myself back to my feet and let my gaze sweep the room. I frowned, then saw Logan's blonde head appear at the top of the stairs.

I ran forward and tackled him with a hug.

'Miss us?' He laughed. I nodded against his chest and then let him go to greet Hesh. Out of the both of them, he was the one I most resembled with my raven black hair and bright blue eyes. One look at us standing together and it was painfully obvious that we were related. Logan was the only one to take after our father.

'Hope you've been keeping busy.' Hesh ruffled my hair and I scowled at him playfully before bouncing alongside them as they went to speak to Dad. I wanted to jump in and say something to distract them from that conversation, but I couldn't think of anything. I didn't want them going out to No Man's Land! What if they didn't come back? I don't think I'd be able to cope if anything happened to either of them. If I wasn't getting to go with them, then I didn't want them going there at all.

'Dad!' Hesh raised a hand and our father smiled softly.

'I heard about the attack. You boys okay?'

'Always.' Hesh nodded while my eyes widened. They'd been attacked?! Why was I only hearing of this now? What had happened and why the hell was I so out of the damn loop?!

'Walk with me.' Dad motioned towards the guys and I knew the invite hadn't been stretched out to me, but I followed them anyway, determined to find out what was going on. I knew what he was going to be talking to them about anyway and if there was an opening for me to try and get them out of it - or for me to get in on it -, then I was going to take it.

I trudged back up the stairs behind them, listening to Hesh tell our father about how there were civilians being shot. Dad explained that it was what the Feds recon teams did, which is why Dallas went down so fast.

'So how can we help?' Hesh asked. Dad never answered and that's when I squeezed round Logan, skirted by Hesh and made my presence known.

'We can help by just doing what it is we've all been doing?' I suggested. I knew it was a fruitless attempt, but it was something. Apparently, it definitely wasn't enough.

'Listen, you three... You're the only thing I've got left in this world.' Dad stopped abruptly and I slammed into him. His hand shot out to steady me and I offered him a smile. I was glad when he returned it, and actually a little surprised, 'But you're also the only ones I can trust.'

My eyebrows shot up, 'Dad?' The hope I was beginning to feel was evident in my voice, and I tried not to let myself get too excited.

'Hey, look, whatever it is, we're ready.' Hesh looked back at Logan and I felt a stab of disappointment, but then he looked down at me and the corner of his lips tilted up. I drew myself up to my full height and held back the smug grin that threatened to split my face.

Our father sighed and he laid a hand on my shoulder. I held my breath and peered up at him through my lashes. The spark of excitement that had started to burn flickered when I saw the look on his face. Slowly, he pulled me away from Logan and motioned his hand vaguely towards the boys, 'You two are going to No Man's Land.' His hand slipped from my shoulder and he wandered back out onto the balcony.

'Wait, for real?' Hesh followed him instantly, but I stayed rooted to the spot. He was actually serious about keeping me here. When Logan walked by to go with them, he sighed softly and reached down to take my hand.

'Sorry, Ella.' Was all he said. I managed a tight smile and took a deep breath. The spark was still burning inside and I frowned at the floor. Who was he to put that out? I was as capable as the next person out on the field. I could handle whatever it was No Man's Land had to offer, I'm sure. If I wanted to stay with my brothers and make sure they didn't get hurt then really... What gave him the right to stop me?

I glanced round to make sure they were still preoccupied and set my jaw in determination. I was going to No Man's Land with Logan and Hesh. I just had to make sure they didn't know about it until there was no turning back or sending me home.

A sly smile crept across my face as I ran from the room to start gearing up and I refused to let myself think about how stupid this was and how much trouble I would be in when we got back. It was my Dad's own fault for pushing me to this. It was bad enough that I wasn't allowed to step outside my comfort zone, but when there were attacks happening and my brothers lives were in danger and I hadn't even been told a single thing? That was out of order. I was wanting to give everything to help this cause, yet I seemed to be the only one here in the dark about it.

_Not for much longer_.

A small laugh burst from me when I realised that this was the equivalent of the teenage rebellion stage that I had never gotten to go through because of what had happened. I had taken my fair share of tantrums, but never before had they been this exciting or daring. I was taking a strop and running away to make a point, and nothing was going to stop me.

I was born and raised a Walker. We never gave in for anyone. If it was fire they had been waiting to see from me, then it was fire they were going to get.


	3. No Man's Land

**_Aaaand enter our quiet friend Keegan! This was a really awkward chapter to write since you play as Riley through a lot of it, but I'd like to think I managed haha. Thanks for the reviews already, hope you guys continue to enjoy :) x_  
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_I'm rising up and there's nothing gonna stop me,  
The weight of the world couldn't bring me back down,  
You never thought that I'd ever have it in me,  
Then I silenced any doubt._

_- Second Chance (Glamour of the Kill)_

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I was successful in my mission of getting out without anybody knowing. There had been a few times where I was sure that one of the two was going to find me, but they never did. I'd had to hang back a fair distance when we started on foot because I knew how skilled they were. They had learned to speak between each other without actually speaking and that was what made them a dangerous team. However, that dangerous team were the same ones who had trained me, so it was almost too easy for me to stalk them.

I kept myself mainly hidden in the long grass on the banks above, keeping a careful eye on Riley just in case he caught my scent and gave me away. I wasn't ready for them to know I was here yet.

After they had taken down the third group, they went through a tunnel and out of sight. I sprinted forward, up and over the ridge. When I got to the top, I froze and just took in the sight before me. We were home alright, it was just nothing like I remembered. It was over grown and wild and everything was utterly destroyed. It had just been left to rot. I closed my eyes and let myself imagine everything back in it's prime. The sun was shining and the streets were neat and tidy; the fences were in tact and the statues were standing tall and untouched. It was perfect.

A tremor shook the ground beneath me and snapped me back to the present day and time. My lips tugged down at the corners and with a heavy heart, I trained my eyes back onto Hesh and Logan. They were almost at our old house which looked abandoned and broken, meaning it was safe for me to slide down and keep moving.

Once they had cleared out and I was inside our old home, I allowed myself a few moments of nostalgia. I ran the tips of my fingers along the cracked walls and smiled gently at the memories as I picked my way over all the debris.

I climbed the crumbling stairs and stood on the edge of what was left of our house. The view really was breath taking and it would've probably lifted my spirits if it hadn't been so post-apocalyptic and depressing. I inhaled deeply and took in the scent of dew and ash, two things that really shouldn't have gone together.

After I was done admiring the derelict scenery, I let myself drop down and absorbed the impact by landing on the balls of my feet. I rose up into a crouch and crept over to hug the cliff face. My brothers were just over the other side, but Logan had synced up to Riley, so they were preoccupied with that right now. Their backs were completely exposed to any enemies that might've appeared in from this side and I shook my head and lifted my gun slightly to keep an eye out for them.

When they moved forward after Riley had cleared the way for them, it was finally time for me to inch along the unstable looking path jutting out from the side of the cliff. I glanced down when I was half way across and my stomach flipped with vertigo at the height. _Shit_.

I forced myself to carry on through it and made my way over the cars and through the houses. I kept myself hidden behind a wall when they stopped to clear a house and stayed hidden for a few moments afterwards just to put a safer distance between us again. Suddenly, I heard gunfire and lots of it. I jumped up and bolted in their direction. I heard them shouting between each other and I skidded to a stop instead of following them down the hill. I was now torn between revealing myself or helping them. Had I waited long enough?

Before I had even made a conscious decision, my feet were carrying me towards them. I rounded the corner and frowned when I saw all the wreckage lying around. What the hell was going on? I stepped over numerous bodies and started to worry that I had lost them, but my head snapped up at the sound of Riley's bark and I saw the end of his tail as they entered a cabin. I gritted my teeth and pushed myself to move faster so to catch up with them.

There were some more shots fired and I saw Logan run into another cabin across the walk way. Damn, I forgot how fast these idiots moved when they wanted to. I carried on running and hopped over the fence on the other side with ease. I got to the top of the next slope just as they hit the bottom and I wasted no time in sliding down to reach them.

Riley growled when he sensed my presence and the other two immediately turned with their guns raised.

'Easy,' I put my hands up and smirked, mentally bracing myself for the onslaught.

'_Ella_?' Hesh stepped back towards me and lowered his gun, 'What the fuck are you doing here? No, wait, _how_ did you get here?'

'I'm here because I'm sick of not being told anything about fucking everything.' I swiped a loose strand of hair out of my eyes, 'And how I got here is none of your business, _David_.' I called him by his real name to show him that I wasn't appreciating his anger.

'Both of you just drop it!' Logan snapped, 'There's nothing we can do about it now, and we have to keep moving.'

'I always knew there was a reason why you were my favourite brother.' I smiled at him sweetly. And just like that, it was over. I knew that it would be brought up again the very second we were out of here, but whether it would explode into a huge argument or result in more missions with them all depended on how I stepped up right now.

We began to follow the road and Hesh pointed out that the tracks were still fresh. We must've been getting close to whatever it was that they had been sent here for. Another tremor shook the ground that we stood on and almost blocked out the sound of a convoy coming towards us.

'Vehicles incoming! Shift right!' I did as I was told and ducked in behind the row of cars that had long since been left to rust. We crept along in the shadows, letting the convoy pass. When they were gone, we moved out of our cover and continued along the road.

'Hang on. Straggler at 2 o' clock. Take him out.' I assumed Hesh was talking to Logan, but because I was spiteful, I lifted my own gun and took him down with a single bullet to the head. There was a moment of silence before Hesh nodded grudgingly, 'Nicely done, Ella.'

I bowed my head in acknowledgement, 'Learned from the best.' I didn't miss the smug expression that flashed across his features.

'Stay low, follow my lead.'

'As you wish!' The three of us moved across the path and through the longer grass until we found an opening. Our boots clunked gently on the the metal platform, but we stopped before we were exposed enough to get compromised.

'Jackpot.' Hesh crouched low and touched his ear piece, 'Stalker, we're seeing a massive enemy camp ahead. Moving to investigate. Sync on Riley.' He nodded towards Logan, and while they were busy with that, I took in the sight before us. The place was crawling with soldiers and they were packing some pretty heavy gear. If we were sighted at any moment, we would all be dead in seconds, without a doubt. A thrill ran through me and an excited grin formed on my lips.

'Okay, we're moving up.' Hesh took the first step and I never uttered a word the entire time we were sneaking through the camp. We stopped in what we thought was a pretty good spot and checked back on the feed to see where we were at with Riley.

'That guy on the trailer. You see him?' Hesh pointed him out, 'Zoom in. Let's see what's going on.' There were three men and one of them was on his knees. I squinted and then frowned.

'His mask?' I glanced at Hesh who just gave me a meaningful look. Something tugged at my memory, but it wasn't willing to pull loose any information that might help me out here.

Through the feed, we heard the one who seemed to be in charge say, 'What's the matter? It looks like you've just seen a ghost.' Even then, it didn't click. Instead, I gripped Logan's shoulder tightly because a gun was now being pointed at the masked man's head, but when the trigger was pulled, nothing happened. It was an empty mag.

'Move everything to Firebase Charlie! Including him!' The man in charge waved his hand and one of the guards grabbed their prisoner roughly and took him away, 'Operation Homecoming will proceed on schedule!'

'Firebase Charlie? Operation Homecoming?' Hesh sounded as confused as I felt, but before we could discuss it further, their comms crackled to life and they got told that they were going to get left behind if they didn't double time it.

Hesh marked the rally point for Logan to steer Riley towards and we hurried on our way regroup with him. It wasn't that hard from here on out seeing as we had actually passed the worst of it, but I was still scared that we were going to end up like that guy on the trailer.

When Riley came into view, I extended my hand towards him and smiled. I really did love this damn dog. I remember how excited I had been when Dad took him home to us when he was just a pup. I had been over more excited when we were training him to work with us as part of the team.

And now he was onto something.

'Riley, slow down!' We had to break into a sprint to catch up with him and I almost tripped down the next hill in my haste to find out what he was doing. By the time we got to the bottom, he was barking angrily in the middle of a clearing, ears flat down against his skull.

'Something isn't right...' Hesh held out an arm, telling us silently to ease up. A howl pierced the air and my blood ran cold.

'Uh, guys...' I raised my gun in the direction of the embankment where the head of a wolf had now made an appearance.

'Well, shit.' Logan sighed simply and fired the first shot, taking that one down, but it hadn't come alone. I counted five - maybe six? - stalking towards us with their teeth bared. I back-pedalled with Hesh, trying to fire as I went. I wasn't fast enough and one tackled Logan to the ground, snapping it's jaws in his face.

'Logan!' I went to shoot it, but Riley got there first, throwing himself into the wolf and saving my brother from what would have been a very, very painful experience. I shot the same wolf before it could hurt Riley and went to step forward and help Logan up. Hesh grabbed my arm and held me back though, silently pointing towards more of the pack that were slinking from the bushes. We had guns, sure, but against an entire pack? We couldn't kill all of them before one of them tore our throats out.

A streak of movement caught my eye as it bolted past us, just as one of the wolves leaped towards Logan. I watched as the blur jumped from the ground and met the wolf mid-air, wrestling it down and scaring the rest of the pack away with just a pistol. The panic was over and now that everything seemed to have slowed down to a near stand still again, I saw that Logan's saviour was a man and he was wearing a half mask that was strikingly similar to the one we had saw the other man wearing back on the trailer.

'You look lost.' He said when we joined him.

'We're not lost. We were looking for you, Captain Merrick.' Hesh's words made me start.

'Wait, what? You know this guy?' I exclaimed, stepping back so I could look at him properly.

'Ella, not now.' Logan growled and hauled me round to him so he could tuck me under his arm and keep me quiet. I curled my lip in disgust, but bit my tongue all the same. Merrick glanced down at me in confusion, obviously not expecting there to be a third person here. My glare faltered from him when someone else approaching caught my eye instead. He was wearing a half mask too and it made me frown. All of them had some sort of skull pattern on them and I wanted to know exactly everything that was going on. Who were these people? What was with their masks? Something about them seemed hauntingly familiar, but I just couldn't quite put my finger on it.

'Walker. I believe you have something for me.' Merrick continued on as normal after he was sure he wouldn't hear anymore from me. I kept my eyes narrowed as I turned to inspect the other one closer. He hadn't said a word yet and it was putting me on edge. His blue eyes flashed down to mine and I was taken aback by the intensity of them. They threw me instantly.

'We came across some Feds moving a guy to "Firebase Charlie." He one of yours?' Hesh handed him something, but from my position squashed against Logan, I couldn't see exactly what. It only made my anger peak higher.

'Yeah, Ajax. Alright, we don't have a lot of time. You can stick with us, but you do what I say, when I say it, understood?'

'Yes, sir.' Hesh murmured. That was when I finally pushed Logan away from me as hard as I could and adjusted my jacket.

'You guys have _so _much explaining to do.' I hissed, then swiftly reloaded and reluctantly followed these two strangers up the hill. There was a lot more I wanted to say to them, but there was a time and a place for that outburst and it definitely wasn't here when I had a fully loaded weapon in my hands.

We reached an old iron gate and I took up position next to the silent one with the sniper, 'Enemy contact ahead.' He finally spoke and I was shocked by how deep and rough his voice was. I don't know what I was expecting, but that wasn't it.

'Hang on, they're taking off. Right on schedule.' Merrick peered through the gate quickly and then took a step back while Hesh walked up and effortlessly lifted away one side of the gate. I giggled quietly and Logan raised an eyebrow at me. I just shook my head and composed myself again.

Hesh was first through and I slipped in behind him before the other three had even moved. I stood by his side at the edge of the cliff and marvelled in the size of the boat docked in the water.

'You're not being as big of a nuisance as I thought you would be, baby sister.' He commented randomly.

I tried not to let him see how happy I was that he had said that and shrugged one shoulder nonchalantly, 'The day's not over, brother.' I checked over my shoulder and saw that the rest of our new mismatched little team had taken a formation to check out the village, 'Come on.' I tugged Hesh's sleeve and went to crouch next to Logan.

'Got some stragglers on the road. Could be trouble.' The sniper aimed down his scope and I peered over our cover to seek them all out too.

'Okay. Keegan, post up and keep us covered. The Walker boys are with me.' Merrick said. In spite of myself and the fact that this Captain had completely failed to forget that I was still here, I smiled when the snipers name was finally revealed to us. Keegan. I liked that.

I moved with Hesh and Logan to be get nearer the edge of the bank and closer to the road with Merrick. He aimed at one of the soldiers and glanced back quickly at the sniper, 'Okay Keegan, kick us off.' As soon as the first shot was fired, I jumped down to take cover behind the remains of a car and got to work with taking out as many hostiles as I could.

I made sure to keep an eye on my brothers and move up behind them whenever they pushed forward. Eventually, we managed to clear out the houses and rid ourselves of the soldiers and Merrick told us to bolt for the top of the hill.

I groaned inwardly when I saw that we had to do a spot of climbing. Since the world had gone to shit and with the tremors that still shook the ground, roads like this - that should've been straight and easy to run along - were now broken and sunken in, creating a lot more obstacles to get over. Agility was my strong point, yes, but the tricky part was my height.

Logan and Merrick jumped up first and I saw Keegan running up behind me. My heart began to race at the thought of failing in front of these guys and I had to concentrate ridiculously hard on what I was doing. If it had just been my brothers, I wouldn't have minded looking like an idiot a few times, but these guys were the real deal. I couldn't make stupid mistakes like that with them around.

Mustering every single bit of upper body strength I possessed, I pushed myself up from the ground and grabbed onto the side. A rogue piece of cement jabbed into my hand and I wanted to reflexively yank away from the pain and get a better hold. Instead, I channelled it as best as I could and hauled myself up and over the edge.

Relief washed through me and I grinned up into Logan's face. He smiled back warmly and I could tell how pleased he was with me so far. Proud? Maybe. For now, I could deal with just impressing them.

'Keegan, take point! Get us headed towards the stadium! Ajax doesn't have long.' Merrick shouted when we were all making our way through the rubble. A few seconds later we stopped and watched a helicopter fly by while another tremor rolled through the earth. I had almost gotten used to them by now.

The stadium sprawled out beneath us and I took this moment to let my shoulders relax and collect my thoughts. Hesh and Logan stood either side of me and I rolled my eyes at both of them, 'What do you want?'

'Judging by all the people in there that we're going to be trying not to get killed by, I guess I just wanted to say that an extra pair of hands isn't all that bad.' Hesh replied gruffly.

Logan chuckled to my right and shook his head at our brothers attitude, 'What he's trying to say, Ella, is that he's actually really glad you managed to sneak out and follow us here.'

I kept the perfect poker face while I bent down to pet Riley, 'Well, you guys always did tell me to just follow your lead and ask questions later.'

'That always ended in trouble.' Logan smiled, probably remembering all the times they used to say that to me. It used to be for just silly things like breaking out to joy ride the truck or to sneak Riley up into their room when Dad was asleep. Logan had followed Hesh. I had followed Logan. Then everything had changed.

'What makes you think that this isn't gonna end in trouble either?' I smirked, knowing full well that even if I survived this, Dad was going to kill me.

True, everything had changed, but we still followed on in each other's footsteps, determined to stick together no matter the cost. It had made such a deep impact on me that I had followed them right out into the middle of the most unpredictable warzone imaginable, and I think they were finally beginning to realise that even in the darkest of hours, in the most hopeless of places, we were still family, and I would still move mountains to fight alongside them.

And that was something that would never change.


	4. Struck Down

**_This was harder to write than it should've been ugh. I was actually meant to have this up for you guys last night, but I was too tired to function properly. I read it back today and cringed, so I've cleaned it up as best as I could - some bits are still a bit bleurgh, but hopefully I redeemed myself with more Keegan. If not, then there's always the next chapter haha. Enjoy! x_**

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_This ain't a game,_  
_Blow the smoke in diamond shape,_  
_Dying is a gift, so close your eyes and rest in peace._

_- King For A Day (Pierce The Veil)_

* * *

Merrick and Keegan were Ghosts - the group Dad had told us about. The story he always mentioned that we didn't believe in. We thought it had just been an imaginative tale... Until now. I now understood why their masks had been ringing so many bells. _The Ghosts were real_. Now we were heading into Federation territory with two of them to help save another. To think I could've missed out on this!

When I had found out, I had actually been quite star struck, but then we got shot at and I had to get over myself. And it still didn't change the fact that me and Merrick really weren't starting out on the best of terms.

We had fought our way through to an old building opposite the stadium that gave us the perfect view of everything we needed to see. A convoy was meant to be passing through sometime shortly, but I still wasn't sure why that was of any importance.

'Alright, remote sniper's online.' Keegan let Logan take control and I tried not to pout. I had wanted the privilege of doing that, but he had beaten me to it.

'There. Twelve o' clock. Zoom in.' Merrick pointed at the feed and I leaned in closer for a better look. My shoulder brushed Keegan's and he glanced up at me sharply. I stifled a gasp at how much more blue his eyes were up close and for a fleeting moment, I had the urge to pull down his mask to reveal the rest of his face.

Instead of shying back and giving him his space, I twitched my lips up into a small smile and went back to watching the feed. So far, he didn't seem very social, and in my eyes, that was a challenge. I wanted to get along with at least one of them, and since Merrick seemed to be trying his best to forget I was here, that only left Keegan, so it was a challenge I was definitely going to rise to.

'That's him. That's our boy.' A hint of pride laced Merrick's voice once we had zoomed in and found Ajax. I watched on with a frown as he took a few punches to the face before the soldier let him slump back down into his seat. I was wondering how long it was going to take before he broke and told them what he knew, but all he did was raise his hand and flip them off. My frown melted into an awe-inspired grin and that's when I understood exactly why Merrick sounded so proud.

Apparently, the Feds didn't find Ajax's attitude as wonderful as I did, because one of the guards forced him up to his feet after hitting him with the butt of his gun. Keegan suddenly shifted and knocked into me again. Reflexively, my hand flew up and I grabbed his shoulder to keep myself steady. He shot me another look, but it didn't seem as cold as the last one. Maybe he was just resigning himself to the fact that I wasn't leaving. Everybody else had and it was turning out okay for them.

'They're moving him. We should go now.' He said.

'We're going in there? What about backup?' Hesh asked in confusion. I twisted to look round at them and saw that they were all standing up. Quickly releasing Keegan, I jumped to my feet with them, wanting to seem ready and eager to help.

'Why do you think you're here?' Merrick stepped over to the hole in the wall and looked out onto the road. He turned back and trained his gaze in on me. I jumped slightly at his sudden change of heart, 'Grab that grenade launcher.' I hurried to get it done and ignored the fluttering in my chest at finally being noticed. Gosh, this was amazing. The launcher was almost too heavy for me to hold up properly, but under Merrick's watchful eye, I made sure to make it look like it was light as a feather, 'Pick your shots carefully. We'll have to trigger them to detonate.'

I nodded once and then the first one came into view. I managed to tag it cleanly, same with the second and the third. I was trying not to get too full of myself, but every time Merrick confirmed the hit, my spirits soared.

'Convoy clear. Let's move.' On a high and feeling confident, I took the lead with Hesh and the Captain. I would've appreciated a "nice work" from him, but his nod of approval was all I needed. We still had work to do, so I still had time to impress him further and maybe even win him round to my being here.

'Alright, let's load up.' I opened the door to the truck down in the parking lot and Riley launched himself up and into the seat. I grinned and pulled myself up with him, only to be shoved over and squashed against the poor thing when Logan decided he could squeeze in too.

'Specific orders not to let you out of my sight, sorry!' He apologised brightly. I rolled my eyes and scratched Riley's ears, looking over to see who was coming into the drivers seat. An amused smirk played at my lips when Keegan opened the door and got himself settled and I made sure he saw it. He just sighed and shook his head gently. I had only dealt with two other people like him before, and they were nightmares. But because I was a stubborn bitch, I didn't let up until they were finally out of their shell and actually acting like nice, sociable human beings. This time would be no different.

'Watch and learn, kids.' Keegan started the truck and I ground my teeth together when he called us that. So maybe he would be a harder nut to crack than the others.

We started to drive away and I heard Merrick say that our window was closing fast because of them moving Ajax. I tried to twist and see where him and Hesh were sitting, but we hit a bump in the road and I cricked my neck. I gave up searching for them and decided it was just safer for me to sit the right way round and tell myself that they were probably in the back somewhere.

We turned in towards the stadium and I felt my heart rate pick up, 'Approaching gate.' Keegan's words sent a shot of adrenaline through my veins. From the corner of my eye, I saw Logan produce the remote that would detonate the tagged trucks.

'Wait, how come I never got to-'

'Sorry, Ella. We couldn't risk this. Here we go!' He flipped the switch and the trucks we were driving towards exploded. I planted my hands firmly on the dashboard when Keegan stepped on the gas and ploughed through the burning wreckage. Logan knocked out the windscreen and laid down fire when the Feds recovered more quickly than they were meant to. I scrambled to pull up my gun and help him out a bit, but the entire situation seemed to be getting way more out of hand than it was meant to. We were getting boxed in and as far as I could see, there was no other way out.

Merrick was shouting orders, but it was hard to make out what he was saying over the chaos we were creating. Keegan took a sharp right turn and started speeding towards the stands.

My stomach dropped, 'Dude, seriously?!' I shouted in an unusually high-pitched voice. Keegan looked down at me and I was sure I saw his eyes crinkle in a smile.

'Hang on.' He said with a quick wink. I betrayed myself by blushing and I wanted to mentally slap myself for it, but before I had time to dwell on the fact that I had given him that satisfaction, we were crashing our way up the stands and breaking through the gate at the top. Before we had even finished squealing to a bone-rattling halt, Riley threw himself through the broken wind screen and got to work with tearing down the Feds.

I hopped out after him and dove for cover, smiling in relief when I saw that Hesh and Merrick were here and unharmed. I kept a close eye on them at all times so I didn't lose them in the midst of all the panic and gunfire. We had a minuscule time slot to mop all the hostiles up and get moving before reinforcements came in, and a tiny part of me was screaming that we would never make it; that I was stupid for coming out into the middle of this and for thinking I could possibly stick with the pace of my brothers. But that was the part of me that was weak and cowardly and I hated her, so I did my absolute best to stamp her out and push her to the very back corners of my mind.

'Move!' Merrick shouted. I cringed mentally and thundered up the flights of stairs he was motioning me towards, 'This should be where they're holding Ajax. Check it out with the remote sniper.' He said when Riley stopped in front of a set of double doors. Going by the muffled voices, we were definitely on the right track. We waited while Logan pulled up the feed to the sniper.

'Looks like they know we're here.' I slid a new mag into my gun and drew in a steadying breath. They were assembling themselves behind the door, just waiting for us to breach it. What they didn't know was that in about three seconds, Logan was going to take them all down without us having to do a damn thing. When he fired the first shot, Hesh kicked in the door and took out the remaining soldiers that Logan hadn't gotten to.

'He's not here!' Merrick yelled over the sound of Riley's barking. Since I had spent so long training and working with him, I was able to tell the difference from when it was an angry bark or a happy one, and right now, he was pretty pissed off.

'Get that dog away from me!' The wounded Fed he was backing up into the broken window shouted in his native tongue. I was proud to say that I was fluent in Spanish. I had always loved their language and was top of the class when I was still attending high school before the world went to shit, and I was glad I had been so obsessed with learning it back then. It had helped me out so many times in the years of fighting the Federation when I knew exactly what they were saying.

With a bitter smirk, I reached forward and curled my fingers into Riley's harness, pulling him back slightly so that Keegan could get to him instead - I hadn't missed the way he had been stalking up towards the soldier.

I glanced round when I felt Hesh's hand on my back and I offered him a small smile. He nodded and returned the gesture, easing me back even further away from the scene that was unfolding.

'Where is he?' Keegan hauled the Fed to his feet and slammed him against the wall with a force I never thought possible, 'Where is he?' He repeated, louder this time. I raised an eyebrow and curiously observed the raw power and anger he was displaying. For being so quiet and distant, he was doing a good job of showing why that didn't make him a push-over. And I found myself liking that just a little bit more than I should have.

'I don't know where he is!' The soldier kept his hands up by his head, using his body language to beg for his life. Just then, Riley stopped struggling and his nose hit the ground. I let him go with no hesitation, knowing straight away that he was onto something.

'Riley's got his scent.' Hesh was the first to follow our dog, then Merrick. I was kind enough to wait behind for the other two. With an exasperated growl, Keegan unsheathed his knife and slit the Feds throat, letting him drop heavily.

'Cute.' I commented sarcastically.

'Just get moving.' He nudged my arm with his gun and I tried not to grin up at him. The three of us had just caught up to Merrick and Hesh when we came under fire from an RPG team. One of them hit just a little too close for comfort and I got blown down by the force of it.

'Logan!' I hissed through gritted teeth as I pushed myself back up, clutching at my ribs until I got my breath back.

'I'm on it.' He got to work with using the remote sniper to take out the enemy ambush squad. They fired another one and my hands flew up to cover my head. He seemed to be getting used to controlling that thing because it was over and we were clear in under a minute.

Riley barked when we all eased out from behind cover, basically telling us to hurry up and follow him. We did, and he took us down beneath the stadium. We sloshed through the ankle-deep water, but stopped next to what looked like a garage door.

'Enemy patrols,' It hadn't been closed properly which gave Keegan just enough space to scout the way, 'Probably a dozen guys total.'

'We don't have time for this. Gas masks on.' Merrick was sounding more agitated now, and the pressure I had been feeling ever since we met these two mounted higher. For a moment, I panicked because I couldn't remember picking up a gas mask before I left base, but then I remembered that they had given us spares before we even entered the stadium.

Once all our masks were on safely, we threw a couple of gas grenades under the door and forced a couple of Feds out of it. The ones that stayed were disorientated and choking, so they were easy kills. Further along the corridors though, more of them were coming in to see what was happening and put up more of a fight. It was still easier than anything we'd had to deal with upstairs and Riley was back on Ajax's scent in no time.

He took us through a theatre and then we came to another door that had a couple of flares lying outside it. I picked one up and saw that there was another way round through a broken hole in the wall.

While the others were busy determining that this was where Ajax was being held, I decided to check out the small tunnel alone. It probably wasn't a good idea to be going solo when Merrick was feeling as worked up as this, but I was beyond caring anymore. I was already in enough trouble as it is for even being here. Might as well make the most of it, right?

'Keegan, Logan, see if there's another entrance.' I heard Merrick say.

'Are you kidding? Really?' I couldn't help myself. They glanced through the rubble and I waved my flare up and down to show them that I had already found a way round. I saw Hesh shake his head in mock shame to even be associated with me, but he knew just as well as I did that this was the kind of thing he used to do back in the day too.

'We'll wait here for your signal.' Merrick brushed me off with a wave of his hand.

'You really need to stop doing this, baby sister.' Logan whispered when him and Keegan reached me, 'You're going to get yourself killed.'

'I can look after myself, stop being a jerk.' I scoffed and went to hand Keegan my flare so that he could lead the way instead of me. He went to take it from my fingers, but it slipped from his own when something else caught his attention. He moved faster than he should've been able to with all his gear, and by the time I turned to see what was going on, his knife was already buried in one of the Feds' neck. For the second time that day, I felt completely in awe by these guys. They were so amazing at what they did and I felt jealousy pang in my stomach. If I was as skilled as the Ghosts, nobody would ever tell me no again. I would finally have the respect and pride I'd always dreamed about having from everyone. But that wasn't the case. I was just Ella, the stupid kid that would forever be overlooked.

I was so lost in my own depressing train of thought that I hadn't realised when Keegan and Logan found another door. I slid up next to my brother sheepishly, hoping that neither of them noticed my daze. Keegan told Merrick over their comms that we had found another way in that was completely unguarded. They were now waiting on our go.

'Logan, get over to that door. We'll hit 'em with the gas first. Breach in five.' I leaned my back against the wall for that couple of seconds and waited while Logan did as instructed. It wasn't until after Logan had kicked open the door that I realised Keegan was going in with nothing but two pistols. I wanted nothing more than to stand back and admire him work with them, just to see how he faired up, but there was a large number of hostiles in this room and I needed to help as much as I could.

Once the room was cleared, Riley ran to the far side, disappearing through an open door. We all ran towards him when we heard him bark and sure enough, he was standing there next to the very man we were looking for.

'Ajax!' Keegan dropped down next to him, not minding the blood that pooled on the floor where he was lying.

'How is he?' Hesh asked.

'It's bad.' Keegan pulled his friend up into a sitting position and let him lean back against his chest, cradling him with a surprising gentleness.

'Son of a bitch. Hang in there, Ajax, hang in.' Merrick ripped off his gas mask, which reminded me to take mine off too. I threw it to the corner of the room and sank to my knees by Ajax as well when he started to speak.

'Rorke. It was Rorke... He's targeting... Look, the wall...' I could tell by his voice that he wasn't going to be able to survive this and I felt a horrible sadness settle in my chest. I glanced up quickly towards the wall he mentioned, but I couldn't really see much through the gloom.

'C'mon, hang in there, Ajax!' Merrick said again. His desperation made tears prick the back of my eyes, but I tried my absolute hardest not to let them spill. On pure impulse, I pulled out my knife and leaned forward to cut the rope binding Ajax's wrists together behind his back. His fingers twitched and I took one of his hands into both of my own, managing to give him a small smile when his eyes found mine. Seconds later, they closed slowly and his entire body went still as he drew in his final breath.

'He's gone.' Keegan dipped his head and even though there were no tears I could feel the grief radiating from him. He had taken down all of his walls and left himself completely vulnerable just to say goodbye to his fallen friend. It rocked me right down to the core and all but broke my fucking heart.

A flare caught my attention and I saw my brothers standing by the wall that Ajax had spoken of. Merrick went to join them and I knew that I probably should've too, but I felt like I needed to stay exactly where I was.

'I'm sorry.' I whispered to Keegan. I was hoping that now my presence would be more appreciated than loathed, even just for the tiniest bit of comfort that he wasn't alone in his mourning. He looked at me and I made sure I held steady eye contact, letting him know that I was here for him. Maybe this would help pave the way for getting him to open up a bit more. Maybe this once, my annoying habit of being in places I shouldn't have been was going to pay off.

'It's a kill list. Rorke's targeting Ghosts.' Keegan and I both looked over towards Merrick at the same time and a knot formed in my throat when I saw that he was holding Ajax's mask.

'Who the hell's Rorke?' Hesh seemed puzzled and it lifted my spirits slightly. I wasn't the confused one asking questions for a change!

'No time to explain, kid.' Merrick stopped abruptly and listened to the chatter coming through the enemy radio on the desk, 'They're coming in. We need to move. Keegan, bring him. We leave now.'

We all exited the room, and I tried to hang back to be with Keegan while he carried the lifeless body of Ajax over his shoulder. I still wanted him to know that I cared, but I had absolutely no way of finding out if my efforts were in vain or not.

'You three did okay, but you need to get back to LA now.' Merrick told us as we rounded the corner. In the same breath, he had to tell us to get back because the doors we were going to be exiting from had swung open to reveal a line of hostiles.

Logan didn't need to be told twice to get on the remote sniper to thin them out and help clear a path to their chopper, which was on the far side of the field. Hesh pushed up with them to help on the ground, but I stayed behind with Logan to cover him while he continued to lay down fire for Merrick and Keegan taking off. I watched their chopper leave and my heart went out to them. All of this just to watch their friend die. Fuck.

'Our ride's leaving!' Hesh yelled back at us. I grabbed Logan's arm and began to trail him out of the building while he scrambled to get his gun back out again. I felt my stomach sink when I saw the chopper we were going to be hijacking slowly start to lift off from the ground. Almost as if he knew that we were going to get stranded here and most likely die if that helo left, Riley growled and ran towards it. I held my breath when he threw himself in to wrestle the pilot, and I hardly dared look to see the outcome. It felt like hours until the helo skidded back down to the ground and Riley rolled out of it, safe and sound.

'Good boy!' I praised him while making a break for it. I yanked myself up and into the passengers side, letting Hesh have the privilege of actually getting us out of here alive. Logan was in the back with Riley, laying down some more cover fire on the remote sniper to give us room to clear off.

When we were home free and Hesh was getting back in contact with base, I let myself wonder if we were going to see Keegan again. I really, really wished we would. The thought of making that smidgen of progress with him and then not being able to follow up on it was just downright frustrating. And I guess it wouldn't be the worst thing in the world if we happened to run into Merrick again either. If only we'd had a chance to ask before they left.

I was snapped out of my thoughts when I heard Dad's voice come through the radio instead of Command's, 'Hesh, Logan, can you hear me?'

'Dad?' Hesh asked.

'We've got a full Federation division moving on Fort Santa Monica. You boys have to get back here quick.'

'What?' I sat up straighter and felt my entire body fill itself with dread. The line crackled and I hit the radio once.

'Federation... Ella... Boys?' Was all we managed to pick up from him this time.

'Ella's with us, she's fine!' Hesh spoke loudly, as if it were going to make the connection better, 'Dad? Dad!'

I just sat back in the seat and curled my legs up to my chest, staring blankly into space. I began to shake from the panic and the fear and I bit down hard on my lip to keep myself as composed as I could, but it just wasn't working. The one time I decide to step up and take the risk is the time where I'm actually needed at home. What if we got back and the entire place was overrun? What if the Feds had gotten to Dad? If I hadn't run away to follow these two, I would've been with him right now, making sure he got out alive and safe, but who knows what was happening to him. Captured? Killed? I swallowed a wail of despair at the thought and buried my head in my knees.

My father could be dead and it would be all my fault.


	5. Homecoming

**_Oh yeah, you're seeing right. Two updates in one night. I didn't want you guys to hate me for the last chapter, so here ya go. This one's a bit better. There are a few minor dialogue tweaks, but it's nothing too crazy, don't worry. Enjoy! x_**

* * *

_I watch it burn and get lost in the ashes,  
Lose it all as we drift into fractions,  
I'm a shadow,  
You're a light when the sun sets._

_- Fractions (Dangerkids)_

* * *

'Enemy smoke! They're marking our position!'

'Get down! Enemy artillery inbound, hold on!' I gripped the railing tightly and braced myself for the impact of the mortar fire. It shook the entire building and for one terrifying moment, I thought it was going to crumble beneath us.

So far, there had been no sign of Dad and nobody had heard anything from his post. Command had tried to assure us that he probably made it out, but that didn't stop me from working myself up about it. Fighting off the Feds didn't help either - we were losing the beach.

'Drones are ready to go! Waiting on you!' Hesh yelled above the sound of an incoming attack chopper. Crouching low behind cover, I took control over the A10 drones. I concentrated everything on taking down the two helo's and another couple of tanks in the small time frame and huffed happily to myself when I managed to do it. I waited patiently for the next run round, taking out another enemy chopper that had been called in.

I'd just put the equipment away and picked up my gun again when the helo I had shot down took one last go at us before crashing. This time, he hit his mark and we weren't so lucky. The building rumbled beneath us again, but before I could get a decent hold on anything, the balcony came down. The ground rushed up to meet me and everything went black for goodness knows how long.

'Ella, get up! Get up, come on!' I opened my eyes when I heard Logan's voice and blinked a few times to try and get rid of his four faces. I reached one hand towards him weakly and he yanked me back to my feet, pressing a gun into my hands, 'You're okay. Come on.' I shook my head sharply, successfully clearing my head of that awful ringing and ran a few wobbly steps before recovering fully from the fall.

'Targets in the trenches! Grab some cover!' Hesh was in full soldier mode now and I did exactly as he asked. Stupid jokes and empty threats could be made when he wasn't leading the fight against what seemed to be a thousand Federations squads.

'Command, we have an enemy hovercraft approaching our position. Tell our forward teams to focus fire on it!' Hesh shouted. Moments later, another soldier whose name was Hudson, I think, informed us of an enemy tank pulling out of that same hovercraft. As soon as he said that the machine gun fire wasn't going to work, I found the best cover I could and took control of the drones again. When I saw Logan nod and mouth "Good work", I smiled and ran to catch up with Hesh, motioning for Logan to keep up.

Drone control were now surrounded on all sides and by the sounds of it, they weren't going to hold up against this attack for much longer. We picked up the pace through the trenches and were almost at the tower when the enemy hovercraft passed right over our position. I fell against the wall and held my arm up to shield my eyes from the wind it was creating. The others were all pushing forward, but I didn't trust that I would be able to walk without getting blown over by the damn thing, so I stayed put until it had passed. Once it was gone, my hair was almost out of it's restraints. It would've taken too long to put back up properly, so with a frustrated growl, I tore out the elastic band and let it fall around me. My hair was the only thing still girly about me. It apparently looked exactly like my mom's, which is why Dad was the one who stepped in whenever my brothers tried to convince me that it would look much better if it was short.

That random little memory of my father tore me back down to reality and almost left me breathless. Still no word from him. Still had to find him. Still had work to do.

'Call 'em in. Make sure to direct your fire away from the tower!' Hesh nudged my shoulder hard and I muttered a quick apology before getting back on the drones. I got a few confirmed hits and poked my head up over my cover, only to see that it wasn't good enough. We were still getting swamped. I went for another go on them, but this time, my drone got hit, and it crashed straight into the control tower. My jaw dropped and I wanted to cry tears of desperation, but with Hesh and Logan, there was never time to think about how badly you were failing.

They forced me to keep moving and take out the last of the Fed teams lining the trenches. Then it was confirmed that we were falling back. Drone control was down. The beach was gone. How much more were we going to lose today?

'Dad's place is down the next street, hurry!' Hesh urged us both on and we all hopped down onto the road where we grouped up with the team that we'd left our dog with. I'd never been so happy to hear that bark!

'Riley!' A grin flitted across my features for a second, then I remembered what we were doing.

'C'mon boy!' Hesh gave a short, sharp whistle through his teeth and continued to run, 'Enemies at the end of the street! Take them out fast. Riley, go!' With the help of my favourite four-legged friend, we took out all the hostiles we could see, until they started coming from behind us.

'Get inside!' Logan grabbed my jacket and basically threw me under the garage door that Hesh was holding up for us. I looked around once he had slammed it shut and just shook my head in denial. Our base, our home - destroyed. There seemed to be flames everywhere I looked and I had the worst sinking feeling that anybody who had been here before probably didn't make it out alive. Now we were running into it.

'Dad?' I called, rushing through towards the stairs anyway.

'Elias?!'

'Dad?!' We all sounded so desperate. I followed Riley up the stairs and almost choked as I accidentally inhaled a lungful of smoke upon entering the room. The place was a mess.

'We need to make sure Dad got out!' Hesh coughed as he lifted up a piece of wood that had fallen down and blocked us off, 'Here, see if you can move under this thing.' Logan and I both managed to squeeze underneath it before there was a loud crash and Hesh dropped the wood.

'Shit! I can't get through. Just go upstairs and find Dad! I'll look for another way around!' Logan bolted instantly, but I hovered behind, wondering if I could somehow move the wood from this side so that Hesh didn't have to go searching. I didn't want us to split up right now, it was too dangerous.

'Ella, go with him! I've got Riley, I'll be fine.' The authority he had injected into his voice just to tell me to go was enough. I cast one last glance behind me before tearing after my other idiot brother who hadn't waited. I rounded the corner at the top of the stairs to see a Federation soldier straddling him.

'Logan!' I jumped at the Fed but he lifted his fist and was quick to knock me away. The breath ripped from my lungs when I skidded along the ground, stopping inches away from the flames. I looked up and saw the soldier try to plunge his knife through my brothers chest and I struggled to my knees, 'No!' I reached feebly for my gun and was away to fire when Hesh burst through the hole they had made in the wall, shooting him down before I could even pull the trigger.

I staggered over to them and collapsed back down next to Logan, 'He's bleeding.' I gasped.

'Looks worse than it is.' Hesh said to me, then to Logan, 'You're gonna be okay!' When I looked around the burning base, it was pretty hard to believe those words. We were screwed.

'Hesh...' I muttered, trying to hold back another cough from the smoke as I placed an arm on Logan's shoulder. It was over. There was no way we could possibly get out of this without one of us dying.

Suddenly, the ceiling above us cracked and more debris fell. I ducked my head and leaned over Logan, trying to shield him as best as I could. There was another loud cracking sound and the entire ceiling gave way this time.

'What the-' I peered up through the dust and the ash and couldn't believe what I was seeing. _It was the Ghosts_. The first thing I noticed was that I didn't recognise the one who was closest to us - his mask was unfamiliar to me. And then I saw who was rappelling down with him. _Keegan_. Once again, I betrayed myself when it came to him and my heart skipped a couple of beats when I stared up at him. Maybe it was just because he was familiar to me and I was happy to see him again, or maybe it was because he looked like a goddamn fucking angel swooping down to rescue us.

The one with the strange mask went to reach for me when they landed and I scrambled away from him, 'No. Take Logan, he's hurt.' Without saying a word, he did as I asked, but before they went, I made sure they took Riley up with them too. I had also refused the lift from Keegan, being stubborn and making him take Hesh up instead. I watched them go and allowed myself one last moment alone in our base. This was the second home ruined because of the Federation. Were we ever gonna be able to settle somewhere without it burning or crushing in on itself?

I glanced up to see who it was that was going to come back for me and was unable to hide my smile when I saw Keegan's mask. I pushed myself up to my feet and held out my hands, 'Nice of you to drop by!' I joked weakly. I went to laugh at my own pathetic sense of humour and ended up coughing and spluttering again because of the smoke. I hadn't even realised how bad it had gotten in here.

I thought I saw amusement twinkle in his eyes, but whatever it was that I thought I saw disappeared when he wrapped one strong arm around my waist and held me tightly against him.

'Hold on.' He said in a low voice before tugging on the rope. I looped my arms around his neck and clung to him for dear life when I felt my feet lift from the ground. I breathed in the cool clean air once we were up and away from the base and then rested my cheek against his neck. Rule one of getting someone out of their shell: have no boundaries. It was a more effective strategy than most, and also had the higher tendency to backfire, but depending on how you looked at it, it was also the most fun.

'Thank you, by the way.' He spoke suddenly and my grip almost loosened in surprise.

'For what?'

'Ajax.' It was all he needed to say for me to understand and I grinned to myself. Progress!

It would've been great to stay like that all night. Dangling from a rope with him, getting flown to wherever, just until we weren't complete strangers anymore, but eventually we got pulled up and into their chopper. The minute I was back firmly on my feet and Keegan had closed the door behind us, Hesh decided it was time to get hot-headed.

'Hey, we're not going anywhere!' He tried to push past Keegan and I wanted to slap him down for being such a dick.

'Calm down, kid.' Keegan said as I planted my hands onto Hesh's chest and eased him away slightly. I wished I hadn't when Merrick stepped in and shoved him back into the door at the other side.

'Hey! We just saved your asses!' I watched the way he grabbed hold of Hesh's jacket and my eyes narrowed at the way he was shouting.

'We didn't need your help!' Hesh shoved him off and my temper flared when Merrick threw him down roughly into the seat next to Logan.

'The hell you didn't!' He yanked down his mask to try and get into Hesh's face and that's where I drew the line. I didn't care who this guy thought he was, but I was already tired of his attitude and absolutely nobody got to treat either of my brothers like that unless it was me.

'Hey, back off!' I rammed into him and forced him back a few steps, taking up stance between him and Hesh. He glared at me venomously and my hands automatically clenched into fists by my side. I'd had my fair share of fist fights, but I wasn't entirely sure how I would cope against a Ghost. Well, there was a first time for everything, I guess.

'Stow it, all of you!' The one with the unfamiliar mask pushed Merrick back another few steps and kept a hand on my shoulder to stop me from doing anything too.

'We have to go back! Our Dad's down there and we're not leaving without him.' Hesh stood up and I stepped back of my own accord to give him room. He seemed a little bit more calm now and I trusted him not to get snappy with this guy. Merrick wasn't putting up a fight against him, so I was guessing that he was like, the leader or something.

'That's real admirable of you,' He sat Hesh back down and kneeled in front of the two. Logan seemed to be holding up pretty well for almost being skewered. He was a little pale and sooty, but apart from that, he looked fine, 'But your Dad's not there anymore.' Hesh and Logan's heads both went down like they were both ready to accept the fact that these men knew our father was dead. I wasn't so quick to buy it, though.

'Excuse me?' I crossed my arms and my inner bitch flicked her hair sassily. The Ghost glanced up at me quickly and recognition dawned on me when I looked into his eyes, 'Wait...' He curled his fingers into the bottom of his mask and peeled it off to reveal the face of our Dad, 'Holy shit.'

'Dad?' Hesh's head lifted again, 'This whole time, you were one of them? You're a Ghost?'

'Try _the_ Ghost. That's your commanding officer.' Merrick spoke up again and I resisted the urge to hiss at the way he continued to speak to my brother. I glowered after him as he went to stand with Keegan, who was watching me carefully with those beautifully intense blue eyes. My expression softened and I raised an eyebrow, mainly for my own benefit. I recognised that look. It was one I was familiar with seeing as I used it pretty much all the time. He was trying to figure me out.

I tore my gaze away from him to see that Dad had stood Logan and Hesh up, 'You boys have no idea how hard this was for me, but once I make a choice, there's no turning back.' My tough act began to melt and I stepped back against the door, pressing my palms against the steel and wishing that I could just fall through it. No, no. I knew where this was going. I didn't want to hear this, 'You and you brother still have a lot to learn, but you've passed all your tests,' My eyes squeezed shut and I let my hair fall around my face as I shook my head gently. _I didn't want to hear this_, 'Welcome to the Ghosts.'

It felt like someone had just kicked me as hard as they possibly could right in my gut. I wanted to open my eyes and put on another charade, smile and clap and hug them all, but I couldn't. I was frozen in this very spot, paralysed inside my own body.

'We're ready. We won't let you down.' Hesh said. Ugh. And to think I stood up for him just seconds ago. Jerk.

'There's no way you ever could! I'm proud of you. Both of you.' Tears stung at my eyes and I received another invisible kick to the stomach. Fuck, I wish my mother was still here...

I drew in a deep breath as I pushed my hair from my face and lifted my head. I was not going to think about mom right now. I was not going to cry in front of these men. Against my own free will, my eyes flickered over to Keegan and I cursed when I saw that he was still watching me. _He's going to think I'm such a freak_. I tried to smile at him through my hurt and I wasn't sure if I made it look convincing or not.

'Ella?' My attention wavered involuntarily this time when I heard Dad speak my name.

'What?' I tilted my chin and adjusted my stance against the door to make it look like I wasn't moping.

'You realise what you did, right?'

'Yes. Sorry, sir.' I lowered my gaze, not able to look him in the eye again. I was sure that if I did, I would burst into tears. Whether they would be from relief or anger, I didn't know.

'It was really damn brave of you.'

'What?' I looked up sharply and saw that he was smiling. He wasn't frowning... He wasn't pissed off?

'You went against a direct order to do what you thought was right. How far did you get before they found you?' He jerked his head towards Logan and Hesh, who were now grinning at the memory.

'Technically, they didn't.' I shrugged sheepishly, 'I waited until I thought they were in serious trouble before catching up with them.'

Dad chuckled and put his hands on my shoulders, 'You didn't get killed, you didn't show fear and back there, when you made us take your brothers first? Well that's when I knew that I'd raised you right. I'm proud of you, Ella.'

I couldn't even reply. I couldn't say anything. I just hugged him and tried to digest his words. I had done it. _I had done it_. I'd made him proud! He pushed me away slightly, but kept a grip on my arms.

'So you made it out of base, all the way out to No Man's Land and half way through without anybody noticing you... Some would say that you must be a ghost.'

My heart jumped and I gripped his wrists, 'Are you saying what I think you're saying?' He nodded and I grinned, throwing my arms around him again. I looked over at Keegan through a few strands of hair and his eyes were definitely crinkled up in a smile this time. I don't think he realised just quite what he was in for now. I had all the time in the world to get to know him.

I let Dad go and turned to my brothers, 'Look at you, baby sister!' Hesh mussed up my hair and I jabbed an elbow into his stomach before receiving my next hug from Logan.

'Yeah, you're finally moving up in the world.' He laughed and winced when I squeezed him just a little bit too tight.

'This is all well and good, but what the hell are we gonna do about Rorke?' Even Merrick couldn't bring me down from my high right now. All this time I had been worrying about Dad killing me for running away, but instead he finally tells me he's proud of me and makes me a member of Ghosts. If only I had known this sooner, I would have done something this stupid years ago.

'Rorke... That's the guy who's hunting the Ghosts, right?' Hesh arched an eyebrow.

'Yeah. He's good, very good.' Dad sighed at the mention of this Rorke guy and moved to look out of the window, 'And he knows how we operate.'

'How's that possible?' Logan leaned an elbow on my shoulder, but for once, I didn't mind being his arm rest. He was hurt, and there were more important things being discussed right now.

Dad turned back round and looked at each of us in turn, his mouth pressed into a firm line, 'He was one of us.'


	6. Legends Never Die

**_It's like 5 in the morning over here and I'm really, really tired, but I just couldn't stop writing until this was done and up. You're lucky I love you guys. While I'm here though, thank you all for your reviews and follows - they seriously make me so happy - and as always, I hope you continue to enjoy the story! x_  
**

* * *

_Bullets begin to strip a man of reason,_  
_He's a man of sin,_  
_The men of treason are the ones who live._

_- Glory (Hollywood Undead)__  
_

* * *

'He was a Ghost?' My eyebrows shot up in surprise.

'It was twelve years ago when the Federation's military threatened all of South America. Their leader, General Almagro, demanded all U.S. born citizens be imprisoned or executed.' Dad motioned towards the seats, wordlessly telling us to sit down. We could all tell that this was going to get interesting and for once, I obliged without a single complaint or question, 'It was Rorke who convinced Washington to let The Ghosts solve the problem. The US sent an invasion force to destroy the Federation. Rorke led us to eliminate Almagro, but Rorke became obsessed with him. He talked of the man as if he were a bounty and it was clear he would stop at nothing to claim that prize.'

Merrick made a weird noise of agreement in the back of his throat and leaned one shoulder against the window.

'You were there?' I asked. He merely nodded and didn't say a word, which came as another surprise to me, 'What about you?' I turned my gaze to Keegan and he shook his head.

'Ella.' Hesh nudged my arm hard and in retaliation, I stamped on his foot before taking the hint and shutting my mouth. I plucked my lips up into a small smile when I looked at Dad and saw warmth shining in his brown eyes before he continued on with the story.

'To us, Rorke was a legend. The man could walk through hell and not get burned. Ghosts were the best of the best, but Rorke was the reason we were feared.' Dad rubbed the back of his neck and looked round at Merrick. The two shared a long glance, both lost in their own memories of what had happened.

I cleared my throat loudly and I saw Logan pinch the bridge of his nose. Hesh glared down at me and shook his head slowly. I tried my best not to huff and just tucked my legs up to my chest instead. It wasn't my fault I was curious!

'We had to fight our way through the Feds to stop the launchers from going off,' He continued eventually, 'We managed to blow one, but the other? It was targeting the dam above the city, and we couldn't stop it in time. Almagro flooded his own city, killing hundreds of his own men, but we kept going. Ghosts finish the mission.' His features tightened when he said that and looked at his three children in turn, almost like he was willing those words to drill themselves into our brains. _Ghosts finish the mission_. Got it.

'The roof we ended up on collapsed and we fell into the water. I would've probably died if it hadn't been for Rorke.' Dad dipped his head and a hint of a smile flashed across his lips, 'We all would've.'

Merrick scoffed, 'We wouldn't have even been in that mess if he'd just listened to me when I told him to call it.'

'Say what you like, but he still saved your ass.' Dad raised an eyebrow slightly before turning back to us, 'We regrouped with Merrick and Ajax and then went to find Almagro. We got to the roof just as his helo was taking off and we had to jump for it.'

'Did you get him?' I hadn't realised I had been leaning forward until another question slipped from my lips. Hesh pushed me back and told me to shut up.

'Yeah, we got him, but it wasn't without consequence. Our helo got downed and we were balancing on the edge of a building when it started to tip and break apart. I managed to catch Rorke when he slipped, but our weight was just too much.'

'So what did you do?' Hesh's own curiosity got the better of him this time and I had to bite my tongue to stop myself from mocking him and telling him to shut up and listen to the story.

'I made the hardest decision of my life. I let him go and saved the others.' Dad sat back in his seat to assess our reactions. I wasn't entirely sure what the guys were thinking, but for a moment, I looked at my father and felt disgust. Was there really no other option than to let him go?

'You really just-' I was away to ask him to justify his reasons in full to me because I needed to settle myself about this, but Hesh clapped a hand to my mouth to keep me from talking.

'So what happened to him?'

'We searched for his body for weeks.' Dad looked straight at me when he said it, almost like he had felt the disappointment in me, 'Finally we were pulled and he was declared MIA.'

'But why is he hunting Ghosts?' Logan frowned.

'The Federation got to him first. Whatever they did... If they can turn him, they can turn anyone. And a Ghost won't stop until he completes his mission.'

'So... Find him before he finds us.' Hesh summed it up and I tried to yank his hand away from my mouth, but he seemed to know that whatever I was going to say, it was going to end badly because his grip just became tighter. I slumped back in my seat and blew out a huff of air through my nose. I glanced over towards Keegan and shifted uncomfortably when I saw that he was watching me again with that same amused glint in his eyes.

'Exactly. There's a man in Caracas who knows where he sleeps, Victor Ramos. He heads up R&D for the Feds. Few men get close enough to call a man like Rorke "friend." Ramos is one. To find Rorke, we're going back to Caracas, where this all started.'

* * *

We were stopped off at a safe base in Venezuela while everything got sorted for the next mission and so that we had somewhere to rest our heads in the mean time. It felt weird being in the Federation capital and it made me jumpy. I was trying my absolute hardest to show that I wasn't nervous in the slightest though. I had just set my bar sky-high, and it would've been stupid of me to lower that by revealing how worried I was about getting caught here.

I was absolutely shattered, but nobody else had gone to bed yet and I knew that I wouldn't be able to sleep just in case I missed something. Hesh and Logan were sitting with Keegan and Riley in front of the TV and I was tempted to join them, but the need to talk to my dad was a lot more urgent. I wandered around the base for a while looking for him and eventually found him in the briefing room poring over blue prints with Merrick.

A wave of unease rolled through me and I took my bottom lip between my teeth, biting down hard as I scrambled to think of what I was going to say.

'Ella? Can we help you?'

'Uh, yeah, sorry.' I shook my head sharply and took a small step into the room when they spotted me lingering in the doorway, 'I was wondering if you had time to talk.' I didn't miss the look Merrick gave him and I instantly bristled. Even after everything that had happened at the stadium, he seemed to be having a hard time accepting the fact that I was here. I'll admit, it stung a little, but it only fuelled my determination to prove him wrong.

'Sure.' Dad smiled at me and clapped a hand to Merrick's shoulder twice, a clear signal that he was to make himself scarce. Once he was gone, I stepped in fully and closed the door behind him. I turned to face my Dad and for the first time in what felt like forever, we were finally alone together. The last time had been before Hesh and Logan came back from The Wall. That had only been a couple of days ago. How had so much managed to change in such a short amount of time?

'About Rorke...' I cleared my throat when my voice cracked and started again, 'Why did you let him go?'

'Ella, you have to understand, if I hadn't let him go, we were all going to die. If you were in my position and that was your brothers lives on the line, would you have done the same thing?'

I dropped my head and kicked at the carpet. I already knew the answer, but I didn't want to admit it out loud. The look on my face must have said it all, though.

'That doesn't make you a bad person.' I glanced up at him and saw the tightness around his eyes, 'And if Rorke was even half the man we thought he was, he would have let go of his own accord. He knew we were all going to go down with him, but he still held on.'

'He just didn't want to die.' I shrugged weakly and went back to scuffing the toe of my boot against the carpet.

'He wasn't willing to risk it to save us. What does that say about him?' I remained silent, not sure if he was expecting an answer or not. I thought about how I was acting and wanted to slap myself in the face. All he had done was give up one life to save two others and his own. Would I have rather grown up without a father too?

Tears stung the back of my eyes and I sniffed hard to get rid of the prickly feeling in my nose. I ran a hand through my hair and pushed it back off my face at the same time I lifted my head, 'I'm sorry.' I looked him the eye and my entire resolve crumbled, 'I'm so sorry.'

'Hey, it's alright!' He chuckled softly when I threw myself at him and he wrapped his arms around my shoulders. I squeezed my eyes shut and tried to hold myself together, 'I'm just happy that you're all still alive.'

'You and me both.' I pulled away from him and managed a wobbly smile, 'So... Ghosts, huh?'

'Yeah.' He grinned, 'It was so hard keeping it from you all those years, especially when you all made fun of me for believing in them.' He went to ruffle my hair but I dodged him quickly, enjoying the suddenly light atmosphere between us. It hadn't been like this in... what, months? Years?

'You have to admit, it is pretty hard to believe.' I skipped around him and checked out the blue prints that he and Merrick had been looking at, 'What's this for?'

'This is where we're gonna find Ramos. We're planning to strike on Federation Day, so there's going to be a crowd - a big one. By the look of things, it's gonna have to be a stealth mission.' _It sounded perfect_. I didn't want to blow my own trumpet, but I would definitely say that stealth was my speciality, just like Hesh specialised in anything technical, even if he wouldn't admit it.

'Are we all going?' I beamed up at him, unable to conceal my excitement. If I wanted to really prove my worth to Merrick, there wouldn't be a better opportunity.

'I'm sending Keegan and the boys.' The atmosphere in the room changed instantly and my face slowly slipped into a frown.

'And Ella. You were meant to say Keegan, the boys and Ella, right?' I gripped the sides of the table with both hands, staring him down.

'We need you here at base.' His reply was gruff and he began to roll up the blue prints from the other side of the table so that he didn't have to come stand next to me anymore.

'To do what?' I pushed myself back and threw my hands up in exasperation, 'Dad, I'm good at stealth missions, you know that!'

'Look, now is not the time-'

'And it never will be, will it?' I could feel my blood boiling and I folded my arms across my chest to try and stop the burning desire to punch something, 'What was the point of even telling me I could be a part of all this if I'm not going to get to do anything?'

'You will, Ella, just not this one.' He rubbed the spot between his eyebrows and clenched the blueprints in his hand.

'Why? Weren't you more impressed with how I managed to sneak out without anybody finding me than anything else?'

'Yes, but-'

'But what?!' Tears pricked at my eyes again, but this time they were from anger and frustration than anything else.

'But no matter what, you are always going to by my little girl and I don't want to send you out on a mission as high-risk as this one.' He looked up at me with weary eyes and I took a second to admire how calm he was managing to remain, 'Ella, I meant it when I said I was proud of you and I know you have the skill it takes to be a Ghost, but I'm always going to want to protect you. It's my job.'

'You said you were sending those idiots. I think they're pretty capable to do that job too. Don't you remember that time Hesh literally kicked Jack out of the house because we had one tiny argument?' Despite my current state, I had to laugh when I remembered that night.

'I never saw that boy for at least a month after that.' Dad smiled gently too and right off the bat, I pulled up another example.

'Or that time my date to the school dance bailed on me for the captain of the cheer-leading squad, remember? Logan took me instead so that he didn't have to listen to me cry all night.' He chuckled again at the memory and I took that chance to stride over and take one of his hands in my own, 'Please, Dad, you have to let me go.'

'I trust that they'll look after you, Ella, but it's still a no, I'm sorry.' He leaned forward and kissed my forehead before making a swift exit. I stood rooted to the spot for a good few minutes after he had left, just grinding my teeth together and trying to keep my temper in check. He was doing this for my own good, and I had to try and understand that.

My anger hadn't simmered any and I eventually moved, slamming the door behind me just to see if that would help. It didn't. I went back to see if Hesh and Logan were still in the rec room and tried not to growl at the sight of them. Why did they get all the fucking privileges? Ugh. As much as I didn't want to be around them right now, Keegan was still there and maybe an opportunity would present itself for me to prise his shell open a bit further.

'Hey, baby sister, what's going on?' Logan asked when I entered the room.

'Nothing.' I sighed heavily and thumped down onto the sofa next to Riley. He whined softly when he picked up on my mood and stretched his neck out so that he could lick my face. I ran my fingers through his ruff and eventually just laid my head against him.

'Doesn't seem like nothing.' Hesh commented.

'Fuck you.' My voice was muffled against Riley's fur, but I heard him give a short laugh, meaning that he'd heard me.

'Seriously though, what's up?' He nudged at my leg, making me look up again.

'Dad.'

'What about him?'

'There's this stealth mission coming up and he's not letting me go.' I closed my eyes and ran my fingers through my hair, knotting them in at the back of my head.

'Oh...' I could tell by his expression that he instantly regretted asking.

'Yeah, oh.' I snapped, 'How many times does a girl have to say she's good at something before someone believes her?' I thumped my head back against the sofa and stared at a crack in the ceiling.

'How good?' Keegan's voice made me snap back to attention though. My eyes immediately sought out his and I had to struggle to hide my surprise when I saw that his hat was now off and his mask was pulled down. _Oh, wow..._

'Huh?' I had completely lost my train of thought.

'How good are you at stealth missions?'

'Really good.' I raised an eyebrow, challenging him. There was no way I could be part of the Ghosts and not have any faith in my ability. If I said I was good at something, I had to be able to back that up. I had to really mean it.

He just nodded once and turned his head back towards the TV. I continued to stare, not entirely sure where that had come from. What I was sure of was that it really wasn't going to hurt getting to know him when he had a face like that. His hair was black and some of his camo cream had rubbed off in certain places which accented his strong cheekbones and chiselled jawline. Put together with those eyes and by fuck, he was one very good looking man.

Nobody really said much after that. Those three would make random conversation every now and then, but apart from that, it was quiet and relaxing. I felt comforted being surrounded by them and with Riley pressed against my side, I started to feel myself drift off to sleep.

Vaguely, I heard a door creak open and my father's voice as he asked to have a quick word with my brothers. Just to be a dick, Hesh clicked his fingers and took Riley with him. When I thumped down and glared round at him, he shrugged innocently and left the room with the dog I had been using as a pillow.

By this stage, I was too far gone to even think about trudging back through to my room so with a soft grunt, I stretched myself out on the sofa and pulled one of the cushions towards me to rest my head on instead.

I heard more movement and cracked my eyes open to see who it was that was wanting to disturb me this time and I froze when I saw Keegan towering over me. I held my breath and just watched him as he laid a blanket down over the top of me. That was when he realised I was still awake.

'I, uh, didn't want you getting cold.' He scratched at his cheek in an almost awkward fashion and sat back down onto the chair and started flicking through the channels. After a few moments, he glanced back over at me to see if my eyes were still open, 'Ella?'

'Yeah?' I think that was the first time I had heard him say my name, and I cursed silently when I found that I really liked it.

'I'll talk to Elias tomorrow about getting you on the mission.'

'Really?' I pushed through the tiredness that was pulling me down and propped myself up onto my elbow so that I could look at him properly.

He lifted one shoulder in a half-assed shrug and one corner of his mouth tugged up into a ridiculously sexy smirk, 'I want to call your bluff about your stealth skill.'

'Well then, Keegan...' I flopped back down and grinned over at him, 'Prepare to be amazed.'


	7. Federation Day

_**This is probably my favourite mission in the entire game next to Clockwork, and I know a lot of other people love this one too, so I'm sorry if I didn't do it justice, but meh, I gave it a go haha. Enjoy! x  
**_

* * *

_I see your face before my eyes,  
I'm falling into darkness,  
Why must I fight to stay alive?  
Heroes fallen._

_- Creeping In My Soul (Cryoshell)_

* * *

Keegan had made good on his word to talk to my dad. I hadn't thought he was actually going to do it until I was called into the briefing room to talk to him again the next day and honestly, it had been an emotional conversation. Dad had apologised for wanting to keep me on such a tight leash, but it was apparently because I reminded him so much in my mom. Logan had her personality, but I was everything else, and he didn't want to lose me either. He said he wouldn't be able to live with himself if he was the one that gave me an order that ended up getting me killed.

Thankfully, the heavy stuff didn't last for long and he went on to tell me that about the long talk he'd had with Keegan - which I pretended I knew nothing about. He said that even though he knew Hesh and Logan would look after me, Keegan had promised that he would keep me safe out there, and he trusted him more than my brothers about this one, mainly because he knew that he had more years experience under his belt. I'll admit, I had been way too happy about that piece of information, but I managed to keep myself cool and professional. Well, until I was told I could mess around with the camo cream.

I'd made a bee line straight for the guys, forcing them to stop everything they were doing so that we could make up our faces. There weren't any other masks going at the minute, so if we wanted to look the part, this was the only way we were going to get to do it. I was half way through making up Hesh when the rest of the team came in. Dad smiled warmly when he saw how well we had managed to paint each others faces and I beamed back at him before catching Keegan's eye.

'Thank you.' I mouthed. I was rewarded with a dazzling grin that made my heart skip a couple of beats and that's when I realised he really had done it out of the kindness of his heart. I had a feeling this was his way of saying thank you for Ajax, and that thought was strangely comforting.

* * *

About a week later, it was Federation Day and it hadn't long past midnight. We were stationed atop a skyscraper directly opposite the target building where the view was great and everything was ready and waiting. Hesh and Logan were securing our portable rope launchers while I was up a few levels with Keegan to wait for this Ramos guy to make an appearance.

'Looking good up there, Batman.' I said to Keegan. He was perched on a ridge next to me, surveying the city below. He really did look breathtaking, especially since he was lit up by the sparkling patterns the fireworks were creating in the dark night sky.

'Batman? That's a new one.' In the past six days, I had been doing everything that was humanly possible to break through his walls without border lining creepy, and I was pretty sure that it was working. Just yesterday he had struck up a conversation with me that lasted longer than two minutes without getting awkward. That was definitely some sort of break-through.

Before I could reply, we were interrupted by the loud noise of whirring rotors, 'He's right on time.' Keegan hopped down from his position to crouch next to me and we both craned our necks to see about six choppers flying in over our heads.

'Time to earn the mask.' He smirked and pulled his balaclava down over the rest of his face. It didn't seem to be bothering him in the slightest that we were sitting so close that our elbows were touching, which was good I think.

'You know fine that there isn't-'

'There's our target.' He held up a hand to shush me, 'Chopper's landing. Confirm visual ID.' I needed no further prompting to activate the Optical Scanner and immediately zoomed in towards the chopper, 'Scarecrow, this is Six-Two, prepare to receive optical feed.'

'Copy, Actual.' My dad's voice came through the comms and I smiled to myself as I remembered him seeing us off. He couldn't have made it any more clear that if I screwed this up in any way, shape or form, I was never allowed out of his sight again, 'Receiving transmission. Cleaning up the signal.' I zoomed in even further to the face of the man that had just stepped out of the chopper wearing a fancy suit and carrying a sleek looking briefcase. It took a few seconds, but his image uploaded without a hitch, 'Target confirmed. Mission is a go.'

'Hard copy, Scarecrow. Six-Two out.' I deactivated the feed and jumped down the couple of levels behind Keegan to regroup with Hesh and Logan. Neither of them really paid us much attention and I took that as a clear "no chit-chit" sign.

As Keegan told us to set up our launchers and check our chutes, my fingers began to tremble. _This was it_! Yeah, I had stormed the stadium with these three, but this time felt much more different. This was the first mission as a Ghost and I couldn't slip up. Not even once.

'Fire your line, kids.' He said. I narrowed my eyes in his direction, but I did as instructed and made a mental reminder to tell him never to call me that again instead.

They were waiting on me to hook up before we zip-lined down and I felt colour rush to my cheeks when I felt their eyes on me, 'What? This isn't exactly something I do everyday.' I clicked myself in securely and then we all jumped forward. I was more than one hundred percent sure that I had left my stomach behind on that building and I had to keep telling myself over and over not to look down. I wasn't scared of heights, but I hated the feeling of vertigo and I didn't want it putting me off.

'3... 2... 1... Detach.' On Keegan's mark, I reached up and detached myself, then gripped the rope tightly as I dropped and swung forward. Adrenaline tore through me and - mixed with the feeling of the wind against my face as I picked up speed - washed away any fear I had about abseiling down a building. I bounced back off one of the windows, automatically apologising under my breath as I left a small crack in the glass. Once we were all stable and we'd checked that our lines were secure, we started to move down.

Hesh and Logan would take out hostiles we saw on the left and I would help Keegan with the ones on the right. When we reached the floor where the control room was on, I was all set for letting one of my brothers go in and upload the virus, but Keegan asked me personally to go in with him. I felt giddy about that for a moment, but then I remembered that it was probably only because he had made a promise to his commanding officer, aka my dad, that he would keep me safe. Letting me dangle on a rope outside while he was inside wasn't really sticking to that.

After cutting a wonky looking circle into the glass, I gave my brothers a cheery little wave before pushing myself back from the building and breaking in through the hole I had made. I hastily unclipped myself and secured the rope before jogging after Keegan.

'Power system's in the back, let's go.' The room was completely deserted and way too quiet for my liking, but I kept my complaints to myself, more than sure that he really didn't want to hear it. When we reached the power system, he told me to patch in and I pulled out one of the monitors before starting to upload the virus. It was almost half way there when I heard voices. My head snapped up and Keegan glanced round from his own tower, 'Tango's coming, finish up!'

'I'm trying!' I hissed back. I couldn't make this thing go any faster even if I tried. I saw the shadow of a head on the wall in front of me and a rising sense of panic began to fill my chest and push my heart up into overdrive. I was going to get caught. _Great_.

Keegan backed up towards me with his gun raised towards the position of the hostiles, 'Finish or hide.'

'It's going too slow.' I whispered, clenching the device harder between my fingers as if that would make it work faster. My nerves grated together as another shadow appeared on the wall and I held my breath. Finally, the upload reached 100% and I slid the monitor back into place. Before I could even think about hiding in the alcove opposite, Keegan had grabbed my arm and yanked me into the shadows with him, and just in time too.

Reflexively, I went to make a noise of complaint at being manhandled, but he quickly covered my mouth with his hand, keeping me backed up against the wall and out of sight. I stared up at him with wide eyes, absolutely dreading what he was going to read on my face. My heart was still racing, but it was for completely different reasons now and I was scared he was going to figure it out. His eyes locked onto mine and he tried to tell me silently to stay quiet. I swallowed hard and nodded and he slowly released me from his grip, but never took his eyes from mine, not until we saw a guard lag behind to check his phone from our peripheral vision.

Swiftly and silently, Keegan reached out and caught him in a choke hold as he dragged him back into the alcove where he squeezed the life from him and let the body drop. I poked my head round the corner to see if the rest of them had realised he was gone yet and let out a small sigh of relief when I saw that they were gone.

'I thought you said you were good at stealth missions?' Keegan asked when we were in the all clear.

'I am!' I instantly bristled and went to hurry back to the ropes so that I didn't have to argue with him, but his hand shot out and his fingers wrapped around my arm.

'You're lucky I was here.' He growled as he hauled me back towards him.

I glared up into his face despite the goosebumps that had erupted over my skin at being in such close contact with him again, 'It's not my fault that thing took so damn long to upload!'

'Be a bit more careful next time. I'm not always gonna be here to save your ass.'

'My ass didn't even need saving.' Reluctantly, I pulled away from him and tried to let my bottom lip slide out into a childish pout. He stared me down and I had to turn away from him, the memory of the way he had held me in the alcove just moments ago still raw in my mind. It might not have been a big deal for him, but I knew that that was going to haunt me for days.

'Let's get back to the ropes and hook up.' He said eventually, kicking the guard's phone into the shadows with his lifeless body on the way past. I hooked up to my rope and climbed out of the hole, taking a moment to steady myself as I stepped out onto the glass. I swallowed down a wave of dizziness and forced myself over the fact that we were now facing down onto the street below. My line was secure. I wasn't going to fall.

'Kill the lights.' Keegan motioned towards me and with great care, I produced the device and pressed the button on screen that made every single light in the building beneath us turn off, 'Beautiful.'

'Aw, thank you, that's so sweet.' I glanced over towards Keegan and he just shook his head. Next to me, I heard Logan give a soft snicker and I was glad that my attempt at humour wasn't wasted on everybody. Hesh, as always, was straight to business and pointed out two guards on the left balcony, which we quickly took out. As we carried on down the building, another hostile stepped out onto the balcony below me. Keegan hadn't even finished telling me to do it quietly when I had strapped my gun into place and produced a small blade instead.

'Alright, take him out.' Wanting to impress him, and make up for the little argument we'd had back in the control room, I wasted no time in dropping down onto the guard and stabbing the blade into his heart. My head snapped up when two more tango's appeared and with no hesitation, I flipped the blade and with a quick flick of my wrist, I threw it at the first one and got a direct hit into his neck. Just as he dropped, Keegan suddenly landed onto the second one and directed a clean stab to his chest, effectively stopping him from getting further. Then there were my brothers, who quietly and easily dropped down onto the balcony with no effort at all.

'Remember, we gotta shut down the elevators, seal off his chance to bolt.'

'I've got the main bank in the west wing.' Hesh volunteered to do that while Logan and I followed Keegan down a flight of stairs and through a door to where most of the hostiles were grouped together. There were only five in the first room, so together, me and Logan took them down almost too easily.

'Looks like Elias' training is paying off.' Keegan went out of his way to brush my shoulder as he passed me and I got the feeling he was grinning behind his mask so I did the nice, polite thing and grinned back.

'Amazed yet?'

'Not quite. Try harder.'

'Yes, sir.' I gave him a playful salute and as we continued to follow him through into another corridor, I felt Logan nudge my back with his gun. When I looked back to see what he wanted he was frowning, and then he pointedly looked at Keegan before raising one eyebrow. I merely smiled and winked, letting him wonder. He should know that I would tell him later.

Hesh checked in to tell us that the main elevator was off, but the secondary was still active before we entered a room that was holding a large group of tango's, and that's when I wished that he was down here with us to make clearing them out a whole lot easier.

Since I apparently had to step up my game, I rose up slightly to scope out the room and then settled my eyes on the only light source I could find - the TV. With one bullet, I took out the entire screen and didn't wait to be told to turn on the strobe that was attached to my gun. With all of the guards now being disorientated, it was easy to take them all out and move on, even though my eyes were starting to hurt a little.

We moved through the corridors and back out into one of the main rooms with a sprawling glass window. We were in the all clear, so I gave myself a moment to stand and watch the fireworks that were still going off outside, marvelling in their beauty.

'These people sure know how to party, huh?' I commented to nobody in particular.

Logan snorted, 'If only it was something worth celebrating for.' I pulled a face when he brought that up, but it didn't stop me from admiring the way the sky lit up with every loud boom. Keegan sent Logan away to help Hesh with the elevator while he hooked up our ropes, and I was surprised that he seemed so content with just letting me stare out of the window at the celebrations.

I was snapped from my daze by the sound of a door opening behind us and Keegan suddenly shoved at me, pushing me to the ground behind some cover, 'They've found us, get back here!' He yelled for Hesh and Logan, who came sprinting through seconds later. I recovered myself quickly and got to work with helping them clear the room again, knowing full well that we were on schedule and that if these guys kept us back any longer, we were gonna miss our window.

'Give me your extra charges, I'll cover our exit.' We handed Hesh as much charges as he could carry and I chewed my lip anxiously as I watched him go. Was he going to be alright? Logan seemed to sense my worry because he touched my arm gently and pinned me with those calm eyes that helped dull some of my panic. He urged me to get hooked up with him and Keegan and made sure I didn't waste time by hanging back for Hesh - _He would be fine_.

We had to rappel down the side of the building faster than we had before, but it still wasn't quick enough. I cringed against the explosions from the floor we had just left and my stomach dropped when I saw that some of the guards had still made it through. They were now shooting at us as we made our way down and all I could think about was how screwed we were if one of them decided to cut the ropes. Luckily, we managed to take them all out before they thought about it.

On the floor below, I narrowly missed out of getting myself embedded with an entire magazine of bullets by the hostiles that were waiting for us.

'Shit!' Logan cursed and jumped out of the way and I tried to pin point the last shooter.

'We need to get inside now!' Hesh shouted.

'No need to tell me twice, brother.' I really didn't want to be rappelling anywhere now that our cover was blown and everyone in this entire building seemed to know we were here. It was much safer for us inside, I'm sure.

I had fun jumping down and breaking through the glass because it made me feel like a complete bad ass, but what came next wasn't so fun. There were at least twenty plus tango's waiting for us in this room, and then there was Keegan who kept screaming at us to push through and get a move on. The tension was thick, but I refused to let it get to me.

Eventually, we managed to get them all down and made it through to the other side just in time. I went to go round with Hesh so that we had Ramos boxed in, but keeping to his word, I was pulled back against Keegan while he told Logan to go cover Hesh.

'I would've been fine, you know.' I got myself in position and quickly reloaded.

'I don't want to take any chances.' A warm feeling spread through my chest as I watched him touch his earpiece while he spoke to Hesh. Maybe he was taking this job a little too far, but I was loving it, and I wasn't going to be the one to tell him to back off.

'Alright, let's do this.' Keegan pushed open the door slowly and we crept in, guns at the ready, but the room was empty, 'Dammit! He's not here. Hesh?'

'I got him.' No sooner had he said the words, the door at the other side flew open and Ramos was kicked back into the room, falling into his desk and toppling off the other side. Hesh threw him into the chair and unsheathed his pistol, which prompted Logan and I to also hold him in the sights of our guns.

'He knew you would come!' Ramos kept his hands up.

'Where's Rorke? Where is he?' Keegan was getting angry, and by the way Ramos kept shaking his head, I had a feeling this could get real ugly, real fast.

'I don't know! No one knows.'

'Hesh.' My brother was quick to react and pinned Ramos to the table in a way that looked horribly painful.

'You have five seconds to deliver coordinates on Rorke.' Keegan held up one hand and began to count it down for him to see, 'Four.'

'He's not here!'

'Three. Two-'

'His location is in there! In an encrypted file.' With his free hand, Ramos pointed towards his briefcase, but just as Keegan went to lift it, the monitor on the shelf behind the desk sprung to life with Rorke's face filling the screen.

'Well, well, well... If it ain't the walking dead.' I lifted my head slowly and a thrill of fear ran through me when I saw him. It had been different back in No Man's Land when I had no idea what he had done - what he was capable of. But now? My feet automatically drew me back, away from the screen, even though I knew he couldn't hurt me from wherever he was.

'Rorke.' Keegan growled, pacing the length of the desk like a caged tiger.

'I knew you'd follow the bread crumbs.' He said, causing Hesh to throw Ramos back into the chair from anger.

'You tried to kill my father, you piece of shit!' I couldn't help but smile softly at his temper, and I tried to hold myself like he was. I tried to hold myself in a way that made me look fearless.

'Hesh!' Keegan warned.

Rorke grinned, but there was a tightness to it that made me edgy, 'The sons of Elias Walker... Boys sent to do a mans work.'

'Hey!' I took a sudden bold step forward when he completely overlooked me. I wouldn't have minded, I _really_ would not have minded if he hadn't noticed me right now, but there was still that part of me who spat at the thought of being shadowed by my brothers ever again and apparently, no matter who it was I was talking to, she was going to push forward and make herself known.

'Don't think I've forgotten about you, sweetheart.' Rorke chuckled and that's when Keegan took hold of my shoulder, pulling me back a bit from the screen so that I was partially obscured between him and Logan. I tugged at his jacket, trying to push my way back through, but he lifted an arm to block my path, settling his hand near my hip to make sure I didn't do anything stupid.

'Where are you, Rorke?'

'Where I am doesn't matter. What matters is a decade ago, you left me to die in this city... And from this night forward, Elias lives with the knowledge that he sent his own children to their death.' He made a cutting motion with his hand and the screen went blank just as the floor rumbled beneath us.

'It was a set up! Let's move!' We all bolted, leaving Ramos to fend for himself. As a fleeting thought, I wondered if anybody had thought to pick up the briefcase, but as we flew down the stairs and the building shook around us again, I realised there were more important things to be thinking about right now.

'Command, mission is compromised! Attempting an aerial exfil from the 52nd floor!' The floor under my feet cracked and rubble fell from the walls as I heard Dad's voice through the comms.

'Copy, Six-Two. Prepping emergency team for your new rally point.' We had to jump the last few steps before we turned the corner as parts of the ground started to give way. Unfortunately, our situation wasn't getting any better and the further we ran, the more debris began to fall. I was willing to bet that we wouldn't last another minute.

'We need to find a window before the whole damn place comes down!' Keegan voiced my thoughts and we thundered through a bed of shattered glass to try and find one.

'Windows ahead!' Relief spiked through me when I saw Hesh nod towards the far side. I ripped open the door and grabbed the railing tightly as the walls strained to stay standing against another explosion.

'Prep your chutes!' We ran started running towards the window and I was getting ready to jump and pull the cord when the building finally collapsed. I tried to stay on my feet for as long as I could, but the floor was tilting and I was going with it. I scrambled to get my footing on some chunks of the ceiling that had come down and watched as people began to fall through next, some of them already dead.

I looked around wildly, but it was hard to find any of the guys through the haze of panic and chaos. Then, I wasn't sliding anymore, I was falling. I was falling with the pieces of this building, right through a sheet of glass.

All I heard was Keegan tell us to ready out chutes as I crossed my fists over each other to absorb the impact and protect my face as I crashed through the window. For one single moment, all I could think about was how high we were and how far it was to keep falling, but then I remembered my parachute and yanked down hard on the cord.

'Scarecrow, we're airborne. En route to rally point echo.' I closed my eyes for a moment and let myself catch my breath before opening them and taking in the sights before me. If it wasn't for the burning building that had just crashed down onto it's side, this really was a beautiful city, and at least I got to appreciate it while I was floating through the air safely, not hurtling towards the ground at high speeds.

I smiled to myself when Keegan came over the comms, sounding breathless, but okay at least, 'Good work, you three. Now let's get the hell out of here.'

_Oh, gladly_.


	8. Aftershock

_**I felt like I needed to do a quick chapter for the aftermath of what happened, so it isn't very exciting, but there's a bit more insight to how Ella's managed to progress with Keegan in their time at base, so.. Enjoy! x**_

* * *

_Make it fade away, don't break me down,_  
_I want to believe that this is for real,_  
_Save me from my fear._

_- All I Need (Within Temptation)_

* * *

We only had a quick stop off at base before we went out to catch Rorke. And I could whole-heartedly say that I wasn't looking forward to it. I had felt sorry for that man, I had defended him against my own father, and he had just tried to kill us all. He had known every single move we were going to make. How do you find someone that's always two steps ahead?

The entire way back to our base, I didn't talk to anyone. I heard them vaguely talking about how NORAD was on the scene and trying to recover Ramos' laptop, but I kept my head down and my eyes closed, trying to get Rorke's face out of my damn mind. Every time I thought about it, a chill tripped down my spine and my stomach would twist violently. He really was ready to pull out the stops to make sure we met our end, and that terrified me.

'Ella?' Someone nudged my shoulder, but I pushed them away without looking up, 'Ella, we're here, come on.' I didn't want to leave the chopper. It was easier to keep up a strong front here with my head buried in my hands where they couldn't see me and I didn't have to talk.

I felt our helo touch down and listened to everybody jump out, but I stayed frozen to my seat, moving my fingers just slightly so that I could see my feet. I took a gasping breath and squeezed my eyes closed again, trying to mentally brace myself for surviving this talk without letting my guard down and showing them how shook up I really was about our run in with Rorke.

'Hey...' Someone had climbed back into the chopper and when I peeked through my fingers again, I saw that it was Keegan. As I watched, he crouched in front of me, pulled his mask off and smiled softly when he gently prised my wrists away from my face, 'You're scared, right?' I nodded, not trusting my own voice, 'And that's okay. Rorke is... Well, you have good reason to be scared of him, but you're fine now. We're at base, your family's just inside, we're all here for you, okay?' I nodded again, hardly daring to breathe, just in case I ruined whatever it was that was happening.

'Come on then.' He took one of my hands into his and pulled me to my feet, guiding me out of the chopper. I dug my heels in before I stepped out though, noticing Logan talking to my dad by the door. Tears glazed my eyes at the sight of them and I bit down hard on my bottom lip.

'Ella,' Keegan tugged at my hand and I glanced down at him, noting the way his eyes glinted in the early morning light. Without waiting to see if I would jump out of my own accord, he let go of my hand and looped an arm round my waist instead, gently lifting me out and setting me on my feet. I stared at him with a mixture of surprise and wonder, and he merely smiled, 'You don't have to be afraid anymore. Now come on.' My head was telling me to get back into the chopper and resume my safe position, but my feet began walking on behind Keegan as I tried to sift through what had just happened. Did he really have to do that when I already had a million and one different things on my mind?

'Hey, baby sister, how you holding up?' Logan rubbed my back when we reached them and I forced my mouth into a smile for their benefit. My gaze flickered up to meet my dad's and my lip began to quiver when I saw the look on his face.

'Give us a minute, would you?' He dismissed Keegan and Logan and then stepped closer to me so he could put his hands on my shoulders and really look at me, 'They told me about Rorke.' I think he was waiting for me to say something, but I was scrambling, and I could only shrug, 'Oh, Ella.' He pulled me against him in a hug and my wall crumbled. I wanted to scream and cry and just let it all out, but I managed to hold myself together well enough so that the tears I began to shed were silent.

'Dad, he's bat-shit crazy.' I choked out.

'I know, honey, believe me, we all do. But he's not going to hurt either of you ever, got it? We'll make sure we catch him before he has another chance to do something like that, I promise.'

'Okay.' I nodded against his chest before pulling away and lightly dabbing at my eyes, 'Has my cream rubbed off?' Dad smiled and produced a tissue from his pocket, swiping it down my nose to make sure he saw me wearing a smile before turning to go back inside.

'Go get cleaned up. I need you in the briefing room in five.'

* * *

In my short time-slot, I managed to get changed out of my gear and have my face clear of any war paint and still make it to the briefing room before my brothers. My eyes found Keegan first and he offered me an infectious grin. _What was his game_? One minute he was bitching me out in the control room and the next, he was getting all sensitive in the chopper. I found myself scoffing quietly to myself. Men - at least one hundred times more confusing than they said women were. I don't even know why I bothered with them anymore. A wet nose pushed it's way into my palm and I grinned, ducking down to fuss over Riley. At least I had this boy who was always going to be worth the trouble.

We were then joined by my brothers just seconds later and I hopped back to my feet as everyone crowded the table.

'Big news?' I judged by my dad's expression.

He nodded, 'Ramos' laptop was badly damaged, but NORAD made a big find.'

'Rorke?' Hesh asked, and at the very mention of his name, my blood ran cold and I curled my arms around myself, trying my hardest not to dip my head and show complete submission.

'He moves every twelve hours, but for the next twelve, we know exactly where he'll be. A floating industrial complex out in The Gulf, occupied by the Federation. They call it "The Freeport." NORAD made the find, and they want him alive. You're getting some salvaged birds to hunt with, and I'll be in a Spectre coordinating the multiple units.'

'Gonna be one hell of a hunt.' Logan blew out a breath and rubbed the back of his neck.

'Big game, but you know what to do.' Dad smiled at them and then looked down at me. I didn't want to miss out on this just because I was scared of Rorke, and I knew Dad was having conflicted emotions about this one too. Glancing quickly up at Hesh, I copied his posture. I crossed my arms, tilted my chin and drew myself up to my full height and gave one vigorous nod to prove my point. I would've probably managed to keep it up a lot longer if Logan hadn't snorted a laugh that sent him into a fit of giggles, and Hesh hadn't shoved at my shoulder, forcing me to break his pose.

'I think you should catch a couple hours sleep before we head out, you two.' Dad pointed towards me and Logan and I almost sighed out of pure bliss at the thought of a bed, even if it was only for a couple of hours.

Everyone then disbanded and I stifled a yawn as I reached my room, but before I could open the door, I saw Keegan jogging towards me.

'What's up?' I frowned, laying my fingers against the handle.

'I just wanted to make sure you were gonna be okay with going out on this mission.' His eyes shone with question and I thought about it for a moment. We were all going out on this one, even Merrick. I would be fine, definitely.

'Yeah, I'll be okay.' I quirked one corner of my mouth up into a lazy smile and he glanced down the hall before looking back at me.

'But are you okay now? Ya know, after...'

'Uh, yeah, I think so.' I dipped my head then, not wanting to be reminded of why I had clammed up so much in the first place. I heard him sigh softly and by the time I looked up to see what was wrong, he had put his arms around me in an almost hesitant hug, like he wasn't entirely sure if this was the right thing to be doing.

I waited a few seconds with bated breath before releasing it in a gust and wrapping my arms around his waist. I felt the heat of his body through his clothes and closed my eyes, letting myself sink into him. He radiated solace and understanding and it seemed to cloak me and muffle every worry I'd been having since seeing Rorke on that screen, but all too soon, he pulled away and flashed me a small smile, 'You better catch some sleep. We'll wake you up before we leave.'

'Okay, see ya in a bit.' I fumbled with the handle and my cheeks flamed as I all but fell back into my room. I heard him give a soft chuckle and I closed the door, leaning back against the wood and sliding to the floor.

I hadn't wanted to admit it, not this soon. But while I had been trying my best to get him to open up, he had crawled right under my skin and I knew it was going to drive me crazy. I didn't want to jump to conclusions and get my hopes up by thinking he might have felt the same, but judging by what had just happened, I wasn't going to rule out the fact that I might have just managed to worm my way under his skin too - hopefully a lot more than he wanted to let on.

But all I could do was keep my fingers crossed.


	9. Birds of Prey

**_Helloooo! I love you guys and your reviews, and I'm always open to suggestions. So when it came up that it would be cool to see inside Keegan's head a little, I decided to do just that. It probably won't be frequent, but I'll definitely make sure to write things from his POV every now and then. Enjoy! x_  
**

* * *

_One night of the hunter, _  
_One day, I will get revenge,_  
_One night to remember,_  
_One day it'll all just end._

_- Night of the Hunter (30 Seconds To Mars)_

* * *

***Keegan's POV***

**** **I'd known that Elias had a daughter, and I hadn't minded when he expressed his thoughts to us about bringing her into the team with her brothers. I just wish he'd given us a heads up as to what an enigma she was.

The first thing I'd noticed about her was her striking features and explosive temperament, but I happily resigned myself to having to admire it all from afar. She was nothing but a blazing flame and I didn't want to be the moth that got too close.

I was used to distancing myself from any form of relationship with anyone at all. I had always been quiet and "anti-social", but I was fine with that; it was in my nature. I had never known any different. Even before signing up to the military, I'd kept myself at a safe arms length away from everyone. It was easier that way. People made you care, they lured you in with warm smiles and sweet words, then they would drive a knife straight into your back the minute you left it exposed. If you didn't let them in, they couldn't hurt you. Nothing good ever came from forming emotional ties, and I really was okay without them.

But Ella hadn't been willing to accept that. From the very first day I met her, she seemed to have made it her sole purpose to break past the barrier I had made for myself. At first, I hadn't wanted to take her on. I was just going to let her push and push until she finally gave up, but it had soon become clear that she was no quitter, and after a few days, I found myself enjoying her efforts. I woke up in the morning looking forward to what she was going to come out with next.

To a degree, it was annoying. She would pick the most random subjects to talk about, she would crack the most ridiculous jokes, she would make the most irritating little comments. She was persistent and at times, down right infuriating. I wasn't entirely sure when I had gotten used to it, and I wasn't entirely sure when she'd managed to chip away at my walls and start to squeeze through. What I was sure about was how worried I had been for her when we were in Caracas.

She had managed to keep a level head the entire time, even when we got compromised and had to fight our way through to Ramos. It was when she had seen Rorke. My eyes were sharp and I hadn't missed the way she moved away and stepped down, but I also hadn't missed the way she flared up again when he only mentioned Hesh and Logan. She seemed to be running on pure determination after that, right up until we were extracted and on our way back to base. She had sat away from the rest of us, curled in on herself the entire time. It was like she had just shut down once the adrenaline had eased its way out of her system. It seemed like everything had suddenly sunk in, and she didn't know how else to handle it. I'd seen people go into shock before, and I knew that it would pass, but it didn't stop that niggling in my chest to make sure she was alright. I'd heard about the way she'd reacted to finding out that Elias had let Rorke go all those years ago, and apparently, she had felt sorry for him. Now that very man had just tried to kill us, and she was taking it a lot harder than she should've. So for the first time since we met, I made the effort to get through to her and I was glad to find that it had worked. I just didn't want to see her looking so sad, not when she'd been nothing but fiery and outgoing since they joined us.

I had been the youngest member of the Ghosts before Elias decided that his kids were ready to step up, so now Ella was the baby, and maybe that was why I felt the need to keep her safe and happy. Or maybe it was just because she was daring me to go against a lifetime of solitude now that she had claimed her place in the forefront of my mind.

She was a challenge and I hated her, but she had an air of innocence that touched something inside of me that had been long buried. And sometimes I understood why Merrick wanted to cut her tongue out and lock her in a closet somewhere, but at the same time, I wanted to punch him in the face for even joking about hurting her.

She was the daughter of my commanding officer, and that had me conflicted, but I was liking that thrill. Being completely honest to myself, I wasn't entirely sure how Hesh and Logan would react if they found out about how much I had been thinking about her. I'd listened to them when they retold stories of their high school years before the Feds hijacked ODIN, and when I had looked at her sitting between the two, smiling and laughing, they had reminded me of nothing more than guard dogs. She was their little sister, and they would snap anybody's neck for her in a heart beat. All she would have to do is ask. As wary as I was about that, it gave me a strange comfort to know that even if I couldn't keep an eye on her, she was going to be well protected.

_What the fuck was she doing to me?_

Ella had drawn me into a dangerous game that I had been only too happy to start playing, but at this rate, she was going to win. ******

* * *

The hunt was on, and the excitement I was feeling had managed to cloud over any negative thought I'd had about this. Logan had done his best to pump me up for it, and his words had certainly taken their toll. It wasn't until we were passing through one of the warehouses that I really felt it though. I'd glanced over and caught our reflection in a dirt streaked window. I truly looked like a Ghost and I had never felt more involved with a team before. It had been amazing for me to see properly with my own two eyes, and I don't think I would ever tire of the feeling of just being able to fit in somewhere.

I wanted to say that it had been easy-going so far, but there were Feds hiding in what seemed like every single corner, just waiting to surprise us last minute. I wasn't saying I hated it though, because I was very much enjoying it. I welcomed the hostiles who thought they could jump out from behind cover and get a lucky shot because it meant I finally got to show Keegan and Merrick that I was just as well trained in hand-to-hand combat as I was everything else.

'Hope you're not getting cocky there.' Hesh said as I pulled my knife out from a Fed's neck.

'Not at all.' I grinned as I wiped the blade clean on the leg of my trousers.

Our conversation's were short as we fought through the building's, only really talking to warn each other of a tango we couldn't get a shot on, or an incoming grenade. Merrick would bark out the occasional order to keep us on the right track, and the pilots from the birds covering our position checked in every now and then to tell us if we were clear to move on or not.

I hadn't had a proper chance to talk to Keegan since before I had gone for a sleep, but I was determined to act like nothing had happened. It wasn't worth getting awkward and shy over, so when we finally made it through to an elevator that would take us up to the roof of our target building, I subtly nudged at his arm, waiting for him to look down at me before offering him a smile. I could tell he was smiling back behind his mask and I was relieved when I couldn't feel any weird tension.

The lift then shuddered to a halt and as we exited, Logan swooped down to hiss in my ear, 'There's something you're not telling us.'

'Time and a place, brother.' I whispered back. I pushed myself forward to run with Hesh instead, a clear sign to Logan that I was serious about not wanting to talk about it here, of all bloody places.

We had one more building to clear, and between the five of us, we were lucky if it even took a minute.

'He's just past those doors.' Merrick pushed past us and for once, I didn't call him out for it. Rorke was right in the other room and I was about to come face to face with him for the first time. My chest tightened and I felt the excitement drain from me as I slowed down to try and hang back a bit.

'Hey, you're gonna be fine.' Keegan appeared suddenly by my side and I jumped slightly when I felt his hand on my back as he urged me on. Rorke was probably in there alone and unarmed, and there was an entire team of us who all had fully loaded weapons. The odds were definitely turned in our favour. With my stomach settled a little, I took up stance next to Logan as Keegan moved up with Merrick and kicked open the door.

'On the ground, now!' We formed a loose semi-circle round Rorke and I had to grip my gun tightly so to stop my fingers from shaking. He pushed himself away from the desk and smirked at us all, everything about him screaming "arrogant". When his gaze swept over me, I flinched away and ground my teeth together in anger at myself. _Show. No. Fear_. Why was that so hard to do when it came to him?

'You boys sure know how to make an entrance.' He started conversationally.

'Shut up!' Merrick slammed his fist into his face and floored him, then hauled him up by the scruff of the neck and literally threw him through the window and out onto the roof while I watched on in grim amusement.

Hesh walked over to the broken glass and peered out at Merrick who now had one foot planted firmly on Rorke's chest, 'Pirate, this is Ghost Six-Three. Urchin is secure. Moving to the extraction point now.' He then jumped out to join them and I drew in a deep, cleansing breath before following on behind him.

'Scarecrow, this is Six-One. We have him.' Merrick was pointing his gun down towards Rorke's face, but I still made sure to stand myself just a little bit closer to Hesh than normal.

'Roger that. Outlaw will bring you to the RV. We need to be mobile in thirty mikes.' Dad replied back through the comms. I bit my lip, forgetting about the camo cream there, and wondered how he was going to react to seeing Rorke again after everything that had happened. I just hoped that he'd have it in him to kill the bastard for good this time, because I was so over this.

* * *

'There are ancient tribes, deep in the Amazon, who have perfected the art of torture over hundreds of years. The Federation embraced this heritage, enhancing it with more... Sophisticated methods. They kept Rorke in a hole for months, feeding him food mixed with poisons of exotic plants. As they broke down his body, they went to work on his mind. When his mind broke, they went to work on his soul. They rebuilt what was left, twisting him to their purposes. The process was excruciating and exacting. Rorke was their Ghost now.' The hairs on the back of my neck stood on end when Dad was finished telling us what he had found out about what really happened to Rorke after the Feds got their hands on him. It sounded awful, and I felt a twinge of sympathy that was soon squashed when I remembered what he had done.

'That must've been fun.' I joked weakly, rubbing at my neck to try and get rid of the chill that had creeped down my spine. It was just the thought of being held captive in a pit for months, tortured to the point where you could become moulded into a completely different person. It was a fate nobody should have to be subjected to.

'Ella, seriously.' Hesh pinched the bridge of his nose.

'Just trying to lighten the mood.' I cringed.

'Well don't.' Merrick snapped, 'Come on.' We all made our way to the cargo bay of our plane where we had Rorke tied to a chair, ready for interrogation. He didn't seem to be phased at all about it. Hell, if I didn't know any better, it looked like he was actually enjoying himself.

'I need you tell me everything you know about the dig site in San Diego.' Dad was the first to speak and we all moved to circle around Rorke. I was going to go and stand with Hesh, but I was surprised when Keegan touched my elbow with the muzzle of his gun and gently jerked his head, motioning me to get between him and Logan, who gave me a stern frown. I smirked back at him, knowing that he was getting frustrated about being kept in the dark about something.

'That's no way to greet an old friend, Elias!' Rorke laughed loudly, 'No "how have you been" or "I've missed you"?'

'I don't want to repeat myself.' I watched my Dad carefully, noting the way his jaw set and his eyes flashed as he tried to keep his cool. In this moment, he reminded me a lot of Hesh and that's when I realised I was probably about to see where we got our mean streak from.

'Yet you're still wasting your breath.' Rorke sighed and cracked his neck, then looked round towards Merrick, and then Keegan, 'It's good to see you both again. And hey, I'm glad to see you all managed to survive my little set-up.' I grimaced at the mention of that, but he wasn't done, 'I bet you are too, huh, Elias? Would you have been able to live with yourself knowing that you killed them?' Suddenly, Hesh lunged and his fist connected with Rorke's cheek. Merrick hauled him back, and he just brushed him off angrily for stopping him.

Rorke laughed quietly to himself and as he brought his head back up, his eyes connected with mine. My brain screamed at me to turn away and back down, but I just swallowed hard and subconsciously leaned a little bit closer to Keegan as he began to speak again, 'Especially you... Has anyone ever told you that you look like your mother? It really would've been a shame if-'

'Logan.' Dad motioned his hand vaguely before rubbing it across his mouth and dropping his gaze. My eyes widened when I saw the way my brother attacked Rorke. Hit after relentless hit, like he was his personal punching bag. But no matter how hard he punched, Rorke told us no useful information. He only smiled and tried everything he could to provoke us even further.

'That's enough!' Dad finally held up his hands and shook his head slowly in disbelief, 'What did they do to you?'

'The same thing you did. They set me free.' Rorke spat out a mouthful of blood, and Logan took that opportunity to get just one more punch in before stepping back and letting Dad bend down to Rorke's level.

'You taught me a long time ago - Ghosts don't break. Now I'm going to ask you one more time-'

'Everyone breaks Elias!' Rorke rolled his head back and grinned at the roof, 'Why don't you ask your buddy Ajax? Well... If he were still with us.' He laughed and I felt Keegan tense next to me at the mention of their former Ghost. Automatically, I reached my hand up and laid it on his arm, trying to reassure him through actions instead of words.

Apparently, that had been the last straw for my dad, because he shoved Hesh out of his way and walked over to a switch on the wall, 'Grab his chair!' My brothers immediately stepped forward to do it and Keegan pulled me back to the side at the same time Merrick moved back too, 'Bring that bastard over here!' As Hesh and Logan began to push Rorke's chair, Dad flipped the switch and the back hatch of the plane opened. The sudden light blinded me for a second and I raised my hand to shield my eyes at the same time I planted my feet so that I didn't get blown anywhere by the pull of the wind.

'So this is how it ends, Elias? You going to throw me out of this plane?'

'You're going to tell me all about that dig site in San Diego.'

'What, you going to drop me, Lieutenant? Again?' And still, he wouldn't talk.

'Answer me, Rorke!' Dad growled and walked down the plane next to his chair, taunting him.

'You really think you're going to break me, Elias? Bring it on! Come on! Here I am!' Rorke finally made my Dad snap completely and he grabbed two fistful's of his jacket, forcing Hesh and Logan to duck out the way quickly as he slammed him down onto his back.

'It's over, Rorke! We beat you!' He shook him a couple of times for emphasis, but Rorke just laughed in his face.

'You haven't beaten me, Elias... You've just made my job a hell of a lot easier.' Just as the words escaped his mouth, a huge Federation gunship rose up into view, aiming directly at us.

'Back! Get back! BACK!' Dad yelled, completely abandoning Rorke. Everybody began to move and try find a safe place, but Logan had taken up stance and was shakily trying to reload his pistol, probably not realising how screwed we really were right now.

'Logan!' I growled and dodged past Keegan to grab for his hand as the gunship launched four ropes onto our plane. My stomach dropped when I realised what was happening, but just as I yanked at Logan again, our plane shuddered, split and we started to fall.

'Ella!' I jerked to a sudden stop and glanced up to see that with one hand, Logan was hanging on to a part of the plane that was still being held up the gunship. His other was wrapped around my wrist, but only barely, 'Hang on!'

The plane shuddered again and I gritted my teeth as I tried to keep a hold of him, which was pretty damn hard when gravity was trying to take it's own hold of me. Above us, without a single care in the world, Rorke dropped down onto the ridge Logan was clinging to, and when four Federation soldiers rappelled in from either side, he crouched down towards us so that we could hear whatever it was he had to say.

'If you make it out of this kid, come find me! There's always room for one more.' Another Fed roped down and Rorke looped an arm round his neck. Before they lifted him to safety, he tilted his chin towards me, 'The invitation's open to you too, princess.' And then we had to watch him go. But before we had time to worry about the fact that Rorke had somehow managed to outsmart us again, the ropes holding the last part of our plane up detached. We were going down, and we were going down fast.

'Ella!' The plane shook violently and Logan's grip finally weakened and I was now spiralling through the sky at a dizzying speed. It took me a long, sickening moment to remember my parachute, but just as I pulled the cord, I collided straight into a piece of debris that had broken off from the plane.

There was only a split second of pain, and then everything went dark.


	10. The Hunted

**_Okay, first things first, if it feels like I sort of flopped in this chapter, it's because I did. I'm not a huge fan of this mission as it is, and trying to write it out to make it interesting? Ugh. Not fun. Secondly, I'm off to Vegas tomorrow_****_ for a business trip, and I'm flying from Scotland so I'll be away from my laptop for at least 4 days. So if there's no update, it's not because I've abandoned you all haha! I'll try and get one last quick chapter up before I go because I don't wanna leave on this one, but if I don't, then I'll be straight on it as soon as I can. But anyway, enjoy this chapter as much as you can and I'll see you all when I get back! x_**

* * *

_Hope can seem so hard to find when all around is falling,_  
_And there's never enough light to find your way out,_  
_But in the darkest times, you find out what you're made of._

_- Follow My Voice (For All Those Sleeping)_

* * *

When I opened my eyes, all I could see was green, and all I could hear was the annoying buzz of insects. I could feel the dampness of the earth seeping through my clothes, but by the way the world tilted when I blinked, I figured I could deal just lying here a little longer. Trying to keep my movement to a minimum, I tilted my head slightly and saw that my chute had been torn to pieces and was just limply hanging from my back. _God, why wasn't I dead?_

I was unaware of how long I stayed on the ground, and then the rest of my team popped into my mind and I decided to move. Were they alive? If so, where were they? And how the hell was I going to find them? With a grunt, I forced myself to my feet, but ended up falling back against the trunk of a tree when my chest constricted and left me breathless for a moment.

'Ella?' Logan's voice floated through the jungle and I turned towards it, a slow smile spreading across my face when I heard him. It felt wrong, and I reached up to run my fingers along my mouth. I groaned quietly when I realised that my bottom lip was split and swollen. It prompted me to check for any others injuries, and I only managed to identify one major cut that had ripped through my jacket and into my side. I probed at it gently, eliciting a small gasp of pain from myself. _Shit_. I scrunched my face up and tried to determine whether or not it was going to hold me back from getting out of here. Timidly, I pressed at it again and made an uneasy decision that it wouldn't give me too much grief for the time being.

'Ella, can you hear me?' When he spoke again, I carefully pushed myself away from the tree and went to find him. I stumbled over my feet a couple of times and there were moments where I had to stop and regain my equilibrium, but it was all worth it when I pushed back a clump of fern leaves and saw Logan creeping his way through the foliage, eyes wide and pistol raised.

'Hey,' I hissed. I didn't dare shout out to him, not here. I didn't know exactly where here was, but I was willing to bet that we had been dumped straight into Federation territory, and the last thing we all needed was to be compromised.

He whirled on me and I automatically lifted one of my hands in surrender as I stepped into his view fully. He dropped his defensive stance and relief washed over his features, 'Oh my God, we were starting to think you were dead.'

'We?' I frowned.

'Yeah, everyone's still alive. Where's your comm?'

'Um...' I felt for it, but there was nothing there, 'I must've lost it, sorry.'

'It's okay, you're here now, that's all that matters.' He checked over my wounds and quickly cut the remains of my chute from my back while he did so, 'Are you gonna be alright?'

'Should be. What about you?' I motioned towards the trail of blood that was trickling out from beneath his blonde hair that was spattered with dirt and twigs from his own fall. There was a nasty looking gash along his knuckles, but apart from that, he seemed to be intact.

'Don't worry about me.' His lips twitched up into a smile and he tapped his comm, 'It's Logan. I've found Ella. We're on our way to your position now.' He paused for a second then nodded, 'Roger that.'

'Dad?' I asked.

'Yup. He's with Keegan. Hesh landed with Merrick. They're up the hill past the crash site, but the place is crawling with Feds.' He sighed, irritated, and lifted his wrist to check the heart beat sensor strapped there. I rose onto my tiptoes to check for myself and felt a sinking feeling of defeat when I saw the amount of dots that were showing up on the radar, 'You packed?'

'I think so.' My fingers brushed over the pistol that was still nestled securely in it's holster, but when I pulled it out, I saw that it wasn't silenced. Desperate, angry tears sprang to my eyes and I scrubbed at them violently, 'Just when you think the day couldn't get any worse, right?'

'Hey, it's fine. Take this.' Logan held out his knife for me and I took it gently in my hands, not sure what use this was going to be, 'Does any of this feel familiar to you?' I closed my eyes for a second and the memories of the times when Dad would send me, Logan and Hesh out into the woods to train flew to the front of my mind. He'd told us we could quit at any time, but it was what we wanted to do, so we endured it, and it shaped us into the soldiers we were today.

'Yeah, training.' I smiled softly and touched a finger to the tip of the blade.

'Exactly. We know how to do this, Ella, but we have to hurry.' His eyes flashed and I wondered what else was being said over the comms. But if it was getting Logan worked up, then I didn't want to hang around to ask questions.

'Let's do this.' I got a better grip on the knife and we started to move. I wasn't as good as Hesh was at being able to communicate with Logan without having to say anything, but it was enough. We began to work our way through the jungle and with one glance, we could tell each other if there was a tango in our line of sight, and with one hand signal, we would take them out. It was just common sense on both of our parts to keep an eye on each other so we didn't get separated.

When we had passed the crash site, I could only shake my head as I stared over at the wreckage. That could've been us in there, mangled and burning. It hadn't been enough that Rorke had blown up an entire building and killed how many of his own men in the process? Because then there was this. He wasn't going to stop until he murdered us all personally. I was scared to think what would be next.

Once we were done brooding over the mess, we carried on a little further with no signs of any more soldiers in our area, but I couldn't be sure since I couldn't get a clear view of our little radar. 'Are we clear?' I whispered to Logan. He opened his mouth, but before he could utter a word, the ground beneath us shook. We stared up at each other in shock, not sure what to think, 'A tremor?'

'Maybe.' He mouthed, then held one hand up, telling me to hold on. I froze and held my breath, and then a few seconds later, he rose out from beneath his cover in the bushes, 'Dad can see us on the tracker. We're almost there.' _He'd said that Dad was with Keegan_. My heart skipped, and I jumped out all too eagerly to join Logan, which earned me a funny look.

We began to follow a worn down trail and my insides were twisting at the thought of regrouping with them. I just needed to see those eyes...

'Okay, spill.' Logan said suddenly.

'Huh?'

'What's going on with you and Keegan?'

I blushed and turned my face away to duck beneath a low hanging branch, 'Nothing.'

'Ella.'

'Ugh, fine! Remember Jared and Lisa?'

'Yeah, they hated you.' He snickered and I shot him my best death glare.

'Not by the time they got shipped out. It's basically the same idea. He was too quiet, and you should know me by now, brother.'

'Yeah, I do...' He trailed off as we reached the top of the hill. Across the river sat Dad and Keegan, just waiting patiently for us. Neither of them looked half as bad as me and Logan did, but damn were they a sight for sore eyes. I grinned automatically, but regretted it instantly when I felt the strain it put on my bust lip.

'We heard gunfire. You okay?' I splashed through the water to get to them and Dad laid a hand on my shoulder.

'Fine. Just cut up from the landing.' I waved vaguely towards my face and shrugged, 'Where's Hesh and Merrick?'

'This way.' We jogged up another little hill and stopped at the top, crouching low. I steadied myself against Logan and glanced over at Keegan quickly. He met my gaze just long enough for a flush to creep up my neck, but then he turned back to the issue at hand.

'Hesh, we see you. When this goes loud, stay low.' I couldn't really tell what was going on, so I pulled back a fern leave and almost snarled at what I saw. A group of Feds had Hesh and Merrick on their knees in the water and were getting ready to execute both of them, 'Logan, do it.' My brother shifted slightly and raised his pistol. I heard him take a steadying breath and then he pulled the trigger. On that mark, Dad and Keegan also fired a few shots, dropping the rest of the soldiers, and I was left feeling completely useless. I glared down at the knife I'd been using and threw it angrily into the water, then made my way down the embankment behind the other three.

'You boys good to go? Mako's picking us up two klicks from here.' The ground rocked again and Dad looked towards the sky, trying to see if there was anything weird going on, 'What in hell is that?'

'Something that's going to tear this place apart again? Or, you know, it could just be a tremor.' I was the only one who took him up on it, all while trying to find one of the guns those Feds dropped.

'Either way, let's not make ourselves an easy target. We move quiet and quick, we'll make it home safe. Let's go.' A flash of panic hit me at the thought of having to move without arming myself, but then I spotted the glint of a gun beneath the surface and quickly scooped it up as the rest of the guys all began to run upstream. The sound of a chopper made us slow down a bit, and we all hid behind various rocks so we could scope it out.

'Supply drop. Looks like they're on the way out. Wait for them to clear out.' We must've only been sitting for half a minute at least, but it felt like an eternity was dragging by. The cut in my side was getting harder to work with the longer I ignored it, and I would've given anything to be able to take it at a slower pace, but we were under Dad's orders right now, and we had to be quick or we would get left behind.

The sound of loud voices echoed through the canyon we were in and Merrick confirmed that there was more of them heading back our way. Hesh pointed out the waterfall, and we managed to get into the small cave behind it just in time. We had to stay agonizingly still and painfully quiet while they walked by and I was sure that I was going to be the idiot that blew our cover.

But I never did. They were oblivious to our presence, and we were soon clear to carry on. I was glad when we moved out of the water and onto dry land again, but there were more patrols up ahead, and Dad had told us only to engage if we were spotted, so we were taking the longer way round.

My heart was in my throat the entire time, and the adrenaline that was starting to work it's way through me was doing wonders for the pain in my side. I was almost disappointed when we passed all the guards without a hitch, sad that there was now nothing to help numb the pain.

There was a sudden flash of lightning and a loud clap of thunder overhead, causing a small whine to escape from me. For as long as I could remember, I had always been petrified of thunderstorms. They had been rare, but when they hit, they had hit hard. I used to run straight to my dad when I was younger, and then I moved onto hiding under my duvet and covering my head with my pillow, and then we'd gotten Riley and from the first flash or rumble, he would be right by my side until it was all over. Now I was out in the middle of one with no blanket to hide under and no dog to cuddle into. This day really could not get any worse.

'You hear that?' Logan asked, glancing up at the sound of a chopper.

'Wait at the tree line, let 'em pass.'

'Terrific.' It was with tremendous effort that I managed to crouch and wait with them, but it didn't stop the way my knees were now trembling. I swallowed and tried to concentrate on the hostiles that were now coming out of the helicopters.

'Move quiet and keep low. Meet up at the ridge on the other side. Stay behind me, single file.' Dad was the first one to move. Hesh hesitated for a moment, his gaze flickering towards the sky then over towards me, and then he tugged my arm gently, moving me to walk between him and Merrick. He would always make fun of me for being scared of the storms, but if he let me slip up, it would impact us all, and he couldn't take that chance today.

We crept through the long grass as silently as possible, and Dad kept reminding us to stay low, but with every clap of thunder that rattled the sky, I came closer and closer to jumping right out of my skin.

A lifetime later, we were clear to stand again, but it was starting to rain, which meant the storm was getting worse. My horribly irrational fear began to take it's hold and I barely heard Merrick say that we were almost at the river and I hardly registered Hesh calling it in. What did register and pull me back from the brink of freaking out was the tremor that almost split the ground we were stood on at exactly the same time the sky made a sound that made me think it was trying to tear itself open.

'What's doing this shit?' No sooner had Merrick asked, we got the answer.

'Holy shit. Is that nuclear?' We all stopped and time seemed to stand still as we watched the missile launch up, up, and into the clouds. I heard someone say that we were on our way to the river now, and I shook my head sharply, kicking myself back into gear when the rest of the guys started moving.

'Choppers incoming!' Keegan exclaimed so suddenly, that from reflex, I all but dove to prone. I gasped out as a sharp flash of agony ripped through me and I could've sworn I'd just managed to tear my wound open even further. I kept my head ducked low and sucked in a lungful of air through my teeth, trying to blanket the pain again.

The choppers had passed, and we were now on a strict timeline because of the missile launch, so it meant we had to start really running for it. We bolted towards the river and my heart almost stopped when I saw the waterfall.

'Looks like we're getting wet!' Merrick actually sounded happy for a moment, but I didn't have time to marvel about that because Dad was now screaming at us all to jump. The only way I managed to do it was by convincing myself that it wasn't that high and that it would be like leaping into a swimming pool. My brain didn't have time to react until I was in the air and the only way was down.

I felt suspended for hours as I flailed for something to hold on to, and then I splashed into the water below. The sudden impact made me want to gasp and take in a mouthful of water, but my survival instinct was stronger and I kicked as hard as I possibly could instead. When I pushed my head back up above the surface, the first thing I saw was the boat that was slowing to a halt in front of me, and that Riley was on it. I reached one hand up and allowed myself to be hauled to safety by the friendlies on board. After thanking them, I threw an arm around Riley's neck and pressed my head against his neck, 'You have no idea how happy I am to see you, boy.'

* * *

We were back at a safe base and Merrick had just finished patching me up. It was weird to interact with him without one of us wanting to tear the others throat out, but it was nice. We'd actually had a civil conversation, though it wasn't something I was going to accustom myself to. I'd give it a few hours before I breathed wrong and he went back to grumbling about it.

I was reclined on the sofa with my feet up on Hesh's lap while he spoke to Keegan in the chair opposite. Logan was sat on the floor next to Dad's seat while they discussed with Merrick a member of the team I was yet to meet. Kick, I think they said his name was. I was quite content with just keeping my mouth shut and mulling over my own thoughts.

'How you feeling?' Hesh nudged my foot and I glanced up to see both him and Keegan watching me.

'Sore, but I'll live.' I tried to smile, but it probably looked more like a grimace from the way my lip had swollen up. For about the hundredth time since we'd arrived here, I felt myself get self-conscious about the fact that I looked like hell, 'I just can't get over what happened.'

'No kidding.' Keegan scoffed, 'We'll make sure he regrets that.' It was funny how I didn't even need to speak Rorke's name for them to understand what I was talking about.

'And soon hopefully.' I sighed, and the movement tugged at my stitches, causing me to wince.

'You okay?' Hesh sat up a bit.

'I'm fine, calm down. Though... I would feel much better if I had some coffee.' I flashed him a hopeful expression and he stared at me blankly for a few seconds before growling and moving my legs so he could stand up.

'I'm doing this one time, and one time only, so don't get used to it.'

'Love you!' I called to the back of his head. I heard Keegan chuckle quietly and I looked over at him, 'Hey, I wouldn't laugh. You could be next.'

'I'm not stupid enough to fall for the wounded puppy charade, sorry.' He smirked, leaning back in his seat.

'You say that now, but just you wait.' I grinned cockily and he arched an eyebrow.

'And what exactly should I be expecting?' The way he had said it made my insides squeeze in the best of ways and I was momentarily rendered speechless by the blaze in his eyes. I felt my cheeks heat up, and I was beginning to scramble for a comeback.

'Here.' I was saved by Hesh, who shoved a mug in front of my face.

'Thank you.' I said sweetly, wrapping my fingers around the handle and taking a large gulp. I welcomed the way it scalded my throat because it helped burn away the confusion as to what the hell had just happened with Keegan. I definitely hadn't imagined the way his voice had lowered and I definitely hadn't imagined that look in his eyes.

'Don't mention it. Really, don't.' I moved my legs so that Hesh could regain his seat and chanced a look back over at Keegan. An evil little smile was pulling at the corners of his mouth and I narrowed my eyes at him. He knew exactly what he had done. It made me nervous, but at the same time, exhilarated. It was starting to look like I really had won in my goal to prise open his shell, and I was apparently going to get so much more than I had bargained for.

Keegan wanted to play? _Game on_.


	11. Let Go

**_I'M BACK! And I have so much I want to tell you about my trip, but I have to wait a couple of weeks to find out how well I did in the conference I was at. I'll make sure to keep you updated because it could possibly be huuuuge news and I'm really excited. I made sure to go to the Luxor, the hotel where the mission Sin City was set, and my brain's been planning out that chapter ahead of everything else now. So there isn't a lot of Ella/Keegan in this chapter - sorry! - but I'll make up for it, I promise. I just thought it was time to write a light chapter and I hope you enjoy it! x_  
**

* * *

_Thinking, we don't wanna get caught up in over thinking,  
__We've only got tonight,  
__Moments, we gotta keep on living for these moments._

_- We Are (Big Time Rush)_

* * *

'Hey, Logan?'

'Go away, Ella.'

'You don't even know what I was going to say!' Hesh had stuck to his word of not doing anything else for me, but I had managed to con Logan out of simple things by playing the "I'm your sister and you love me" card. That had lasted a few hours until he cottoned on to the fact that I was over-exaggerating things, and now he had spent the entire morning and the better part of the afternoon hiding out from me in his room.

'Okay, I'll humour you. What is it?'

'Bath Riley for me?'

He responded by closing the newspaper he had been reading and throwing it down onto the bed next to him, 'Nobody likes washing the dog, but it's your turn, so you have to do it.' He fixed me with a hard stare and I made a noise of disgust in the back of my throat.

'Worst brother ever!' I loved Riley, we all did, but like most dogs, he absolutely hated getting a bath. It was fun to see the others come out drenched and disgruntled, but when it was my turn? That wasn't so funny.

I found him in the rec room curled up next to Dad as he ran over plans they had mapped out last night to find Rorke. When I saw him on his own, a slight frown touched my brow, 'Where's the rest of them?'

'Away to pick up Kick. They'll be back soon. What do you want?' He didn't look up from the sheet of paper in his hands and I rolled my eyes. So maybe I had tried to play the "I'm your daughter and you love me" card on him too.

'It's my turn to clean him.' I motioned towards Riley and his tail thumped twice against the sofa. At that, Dad finally looked up, eyebrows raised.

'Okay...' He started slowly, studying me, then went back to the prints, 'Don't be too long. Once they get back with Kick, I have some things I need to discuss with you all.'

'Yes, sir.' I playfully saluted him, then clicked my tongue against my teeth and patted my leg, 'Come on then, Riley.' He hopped from the sofa and happily trotted alongside me to the shower rooms. He was fine when the water started, and he was fine when I wet his fur. It wasn't until it was time to clean the suds off that he began to fight with me.

'Riley, stop it, we're almost done!' I groaned. In defiance to my words, he shook out his coat, decorating me with thick water droplets and soap bubbles. I had to curl an arm around his neck to try and get him to hold still, but the little shit still managed to wriggle away. He knocked the hose from my hand and it sprayed all over my clothes and face, giving him time to bolt to the other side of the room.

'Seriously, dog...' I growled and shook my head, turning the water off until I could tempt him back over. After 10 more excruciating minutes, he was all clean and happy, and I looked like a drowned rat. It was just my luck that while I was stomping through the halls to get changed, I ran into Merrick, Hesh, Keegan and someone unfamiliar who must've been Kick.

'Whoa, what happened to you?' Hesh bit back a laugh.

'Your stupid dog is what happened.' I glared down at him, but all he had to do was let his tongue loll out in a cheerful canine grin and I softened almost instantly, 'Why didn't we train him to like baths?'

'Just like we didn't train you to like peace and quiet.' He smirked.

'This must be Ella, then?' I glanced at Kick when he spoke up. The first thing I thought when I saw his dark eyes was "oh, he's pretty cute", and then I remembered the state I was in. I almost laughed out loud when I realised that I hadn't made one good first impression to a single member of this team. I could only hope that there would come a day where that would change, but I knew deep down that it was just another annoying habit that I would never grow out of.

'Sure is. Believe me, you don't get used to it.' Merrick jerked his head, 'Let's go, Elias wants a word.' I scowled at their backs.

'I am not having a good day.'

'Stop complaining and go get changed.' Hesh nudged my shoulder on the way past and Keegan slid me a cheeky smile that suggested he was holding back from having his own input. My face heated and I spun on my heel to stalk off to my room. Since returning from the jungle, we had been dancing along a dangerous line and it was getting harder for me to keep up with him. I wanted to retreat and maintain a safe distance, just long enough to get my breath back and plan my next move, but whatever was happening was too intoxicating and I couldn't find the willpower to back off at all.

I grumbled to myself while getting dressed into dry clothes, and continued to grumble until I regrouped with them all in the briefing room. By the look of things, they had already started without me.

Dad paused mid-sentence when I slid in next to Logan and Keegan and I flashed him an apologetic smile and a one word explanation, 'Riley.' He nodded once then cleared his throat.

'Okay, anyway, as I was saying. The President has authorized Operation Clockwork, an assault on a Fed facility high in the Andes that could give us the answer. You will infiltrate the facility and gather any information you can on their missile program.'

'What about your old friend, Rorke? He won't stop coming for us.' I saw a muscle jump in Hesh's jaw when he ground his teeth together and I wanted to give him a hug and tell him it would all be okay.

'Rorke will get his, but right now, Clockwork is the priority.' Dad stared him down with a meaningful look.

'When do we leave?' Logan asked.

'A couple of days. Gives us time to get everything set up and ready to go. This is gonna be a risky one, but we can do this. Just get in, do what you have to and get out.' Dad then took us through what the mission required. He hadn't given any indication yet that I would be having to sit this one out so I allowed the excitement to swell in my chest.

Even though it had been implied, I hung back when we got dismissed because I just needed to make sure, 'Hey, I'm going out on this, right?'

He drew in a deep breath at the same time he stood to his full height, glancing at a spot above my head before looking down at me and nodding slowly, 'Yes.'

There was no missing the unspoken word that hung in the air between us, 'But?'

'But there's a high risk that you might get compromised and it's gonna get real hot, real fast. This won't be fun, Ella, and you need to realise that before you set out.'

'What am I, 5?'

'I know what you're like.' He arched an eyebrow, 'I can't stress it enough. You stick close to Merrick at all times. Do exactly what he says, when he says it, no questions asked. Am I clear?'

I bit my tongue until the urge had passed for me to take a diva fit and have a bitch about how many other people I would rather take orders from, and how many other people he would rather be keeping an eye on.

'Yes.' I dipped my head.

'I believe in you, Ella, I really do, but your brother's still have a couple of years more training than you do, so I don't worry about them as much. I'm not saying they're more capable, just more experienced.' He laid a hand on my shoulder and crouched slightly to study my expression.

Yeah, his words stung a little, but I knew he was right. Logan and Hesh would always be better soldiers because they were older and they'd had more time to do this than I had. They shared a closer bond with each other and that made them stronger. They were born to do this - there was no doubt about it - and Dad would be crazy to think any harm would come to either of them if they were together.

'I understand, don't worry.' I smiled, glad that I didn't have to force it, 'I'll be extra careful.'

'Good. Now get out of here and relax while you have the chance.'

* * *

I had planned on chilling out in my room, maybe listen to some music or read a book. I might've even gone and worked out for a bit. But I had literally walked straight into Keegan when I rounded the corner to get to our rooms, effectively stopping myself in my tracks.

'Dammit, watch where you're going!' His words made him sound annoyed, but that didn't stop his hands from shooting out to steady me. My eyes widened a little at the sudden contact of his skin on mine and it must not have gone unnoticed. When he released me from his grip, he let his fingers drag down my arms to provoke further reaction, smirking to himself when it worked. I suppressed a shiver, but there was nothing I could do for the goosebumps.

Before I could think of a witty comment to save myself from any awkward apologies, Kick stepped out from behind him, bottle of vodka in hand.

'Is wherever you're going more important than this?' He held it up for me to see properly.

I grinned, 'No, it's not.'

'Great. Come on then.' I couldn't remember the last time I'd had a drink. It would've probably been Logan's birthday about 7 months ago. We'd all sworn the morning after that we were never touching alcohol again, but with everything that had been going on lately, I think we deserved to let go a bit.

I was surprised to see that the rest of the team had already started when we entered the rec room. I was even more surprised when Merrick handed me a drink that had already been poured. I glanced at him with question in my eyes and he just tilted his chin towards Hesh, meaning that it had been his idea.

'If I didn't know any better, I'd say you were trying to poison me.' I grinned at Merrick as he settled back into his seat.

'Maybe when this is all over.' I thought I saw a hint of a smile pass his lips, but I blinked and whatever it was disappeared. That was enough for me to think that maybe today wasn't going to turn out so bad after all.

I quickly scouted a space and decided that it was time to get back on top of the game with Keegan, then I could maybe fall asleep without any problems tonight. Between that and the hell that Rorke had been raising, for the past couple of nights, I'd only been able to toss and turn and let my brain take me through a variety of "what if's" and "maybe's".

With a small skip, I hopped over to the sofa and sat myself in between him and Hesh, making sure I sat close enough so that my hip was touching his. I turned my head away from him and struck up a conversation with Hesh about the last time we were drinking together, going for a "so what?" attitude.

Dad came in once he was done doing commander stuff and Kick offered him a glass too. It was nice to have the squad together without discussing missions or worrying about something. This was an opportunity to loosen up and forget about it all, even if only for a few hours, and we were all taking it. It was good to see Dad laugh properly, and it was good to see Merrick not being so stony-faced, and it was good to get to know Kick. He was funny, and said that the only time anybody enjoyed themselves around here was when he came back. I really hoped he was only kidding.

A couple of hours later and I got hit with such a sudden emotion, I knew I wouldn't be able to keep it hidden, so I took a short break to the bathroom. I clutched the sink in my hands and just stared down at my own warped reflection on the bronze tap.

It was a good emotion. A really good one. It had been the way Dad mentioned how far we had come and the way Keegan had grinned at me and the way Logan had playfully taken Hesh into a headlock and the way Merrick had raised his glass in a toast to us all.

I'd never really been a part of anything. If it was because of how I looked or how I talked or how I was, nobody had given me a reason. I had never experienced love from a boy, I had never experienced the late night gossiping with my girlfriends at sleepovers. I'd had friends, sure, but they had other friends who looked at me and saw nothing more than somebody who would ruin their reputation. I'm sure that was the main reason why I was so close to my brothers. They didn't hurt me like the others did.

Through in that room was a group of people who saw Ella. Yeah, they probably had to dig through all of my bullshit first, but they still showed me a degree of respect that I had been yearning for my entire life. They weren't going to cringe and stop talking when I walked back into that room, they weren't going to make excuses and leave. I was going to sit back down next to Keegan and I was going to smile and think about how lucky I was that he wasn't pushing me away. I was going to endure my brothers' stupid jokes and laugh with them. I was going to listen to Kick's stories about the mission's he had went on and gasp in all the right places. I was going to bicker with Merrick then offer him another drink to make up for it. I was going to watch the way my Dad's face lit up when he saw his team alive and glowing, ready for whatever was going to get thrown at us.

From what I had heard, some of my old friends had died in San Diego when ODIN began laying our city to waste. And as sick as it was, I was hoping that they were looking down on me now and seeing just how happy I was without them.

I hadn't told anybody that a small, dark part of me had been glad when the Federation rose to power. It was like I had been given a second chance, a _better_ chance. I'd felt bad for thinking that, which is why I had always kept my mouth shut about it, not even telling my family. But now, I felt like I could scream it from the rooftops and write it on every wall and paint it all over my body. The ODIN strike had been the door I needed to get through to show everyone who Ella really was. The Federation declaring war had given me a foothold into a place where I could shine. America being torn to pieces was the best thing that had ever happened to me, and I wasn't ashamed to admit that anymore.


	12. Clockwork

**_Hello! I'm sorry this has taken so long to put up. I've come down with a horrible cold and I've just been so tired But it's here now, so enjoy! x_**

* * *

_It's a battlefield 'til it blows over,_  
_Keep your friends close and your enemies closer._

_- Heroes (All Time Low)_

* * *

I hated to admit it, but I really wasn't prepared for how intense this was going to be. We had made it this far after clearing out the guards at the security checkpoint, now we had to wait for the next patrol to come round. We were all in uniforms we had stolen from some other guards on the way here, but there was still a niggling sense of worry that we would get caught out once we were inside.

'And you're sure this looks alright?' I asked Hesh as I tugged at my jacket. I'd had to make some quick, minor alterations to mine because the sleeves were too long and the trousers had sagged a bit, but it hadn't been too much of a problem. Well, until I became paranoid, that is.

'Yes, it looks fine!' Hesh hissed. I saw Merrick nod in agreement and rolled my eyes, content with knowing he couldn't see me do so behind my helmet. He'd already told me three times that with my hair all tucked up under the helmet, I really did pass for a guy. I wasn't flat-chested, but I wasn't exactly very well endowed either, but it had never really bothered me in this line of work. Especially at times like these, where I needed to try my best to look anything but female. As long as I kept my mouth shut, I should be okay.

'Patrol inbound.' Kick informed us over the comms.

'Showtime.' Keegan and Logan slowly got in position at the other side of the road and I smiled to myself. Keegan suited this uniform a lot and he was holding himself in a way that made him look comfortable and at ease. I followed his lead when the BTR passed and one of the enemy trucks rolled in. It still didn't stop the way my heart hammered against my ribs when Merrick began to talk in fluent Spanish to the Fed in the passenger side. While he had them distracted, Logan rammed his knife into the driver's throat, prompting Merrick to take out the one he had been talking to.

'Everyone in, let's go.' Those two hid the bodies and I threw my bag into the compartment behind the seats before sliding into the back. My brothers hopped in either side and squished me between them.

_They don't need you, Ella_. I shifted uncomfortably as the thought passed my mind. It was fleeting and I made sure I blocked it out from coming back. They may not need me now, but they would be glad of the extra help soon, I'm sure.

'Once inside, keep your spacing and minimize shots after the blackout. Hesh, be ready to hook into their system when we get to security.' Merrick twisted slightly in his seat. After we confirmed that we knew what we were doing, he turned back round and wiped some condensation off the windscreen, 'Scarecrow, we are at the clubhouse. We've secured a vehicle and are moving to Blackbird.'

'Copy, Actual,' I smiled when Dad's voice crackled through our earpieces. It was always good to hear from him when things were about to get tough, 'Blackbird is quiet. You are go for insertion and data retrieval.'

My mouth went dry as our truck slowed down. We were here. There were Feds crawling over the place and all it would take was one wrong word or one out of place move and we would all be dead. The guys opened their doors and my breath caught in my throat, jammed by a burning sense of panic.

Somehow, through the haze, I managed to climb out behind Hesh. I looked at him and let out a slow breath, imagining that there was no threat here. It was only me, him and Logan, just like the good old days. Back when we were kids, way before our fateful high school years, I'd idolised both of them and would always tramp on behind, copying everything they did - right down to their movements - , and that's exactly what I had to do again now. I kept myself drawn to my full height and my shoulders squared as I swung my bag out of the truck. It strained almost every muscle I had to keep that position while walking slowly and casually on behind the others, but I managed.

'Fifteen seconds.' Kick's voice in my ear almost made me jump, but we were now standing right before security and there was no time left to be skittish. I acted like I was getting ready to take my bag off. The strap had just hit the crook of my elbow when the power was cut and we were plunged into darkness.

Neither of us needed Merrick to tell us to get out our night vision goggles. We were already on it. I did wait for him to say the word before I started to shoot though. Now that the entire base was without light and we were the only ones who could see through the dark, the panic I had felt began to ease. The pressure in my chest loosened and I almost started to enjoy myself. Granted, we were only without power for a short amount of time, but after Hesh set this bug, we would be in their loop. We were in control here.

'I'm patched in. Once the power's on, we'll have their eyes and ears. Running static test pattern now. And confirm signal.' We had reached security and Hesh had just finished tapping into their system.

'Check.' Kick confirmed. Merrick then led us down a set of stairs and along a corridor. We reached a heavy metal door and were told that we only had 30 seconds until the power was back on. I took my cue and stepped back, letting the guys use the drill to weaken the structure and set the charges. When it blew, it _really_ blew, catching the attention of what seemed like every single hostile in the base.

'Front door's open! ETA to the nest: four minutes.' Merrick said. We jogged through the smoke and were met almost instantly with enemy soldiers, 'Weapons free!' I couldn't help the grin that spread across my face as I ran for cover. After the nerve-rattling start, a firefight felt good. Great, even.

'Eyes and ears are online. Patching you in.' Kick paused, 'Boss, you got a mess of them headed your way.' I was on an adrenaline trip and I felt like I could take on the world, so this news didn't bother me.

We fought our way through, and Merrick ushered us towards a door that Keegan had to force open. I jumped in behind him, only grinning when Merrick scoffed. I faintly remembered Dad telling me that this wouldn't be fun and I was starting to think that he was only referring to the parts where we had to act like one of the Feds. I mean, what wasn't fun about tearing through an enemy base while you were disguised as the enemy? It was exciting now that I knew the uniforms worked and we could pass for a group of them.

Keegan opened another door that led us outside, and we were met with an icy blast of cold air that made my breath freeze in my lungs. It cleared my head and pulled a blanket down over my high, reminding me that this was still serious and we still had work to do. I nodded to myself and followed on behind Keegan, listening to Kick and Merrick discuss the tango's converging on our position. Luckily, we had taken a path that was mostly free of any enemy activity. There was only one guard we ran into, and Keegan had thrown him off the side of the walk way we were on. We peered after his falling body, 'Shit, that's a long way down.'

'You'll be going after him if you don't move.' Merrick prodded my back hard with his gun and I reflexively made a face, even though he couldn't see it. However, I took the instruction and carried on. We went down another flight of steps back into the building. We stopped at an open door, lit up by the red warning lights in the hall. We watched a group of hostiles running by, obviously alerted to the intruders that were in the building and being called to help. We ran out behind them and Keegan stopped a couple of Feds, talking to them rapidly in Spanish. I raised my eyebrows at how convincing he was. They raised even higher when he lunged for one of them, knocking him out with his own gun and then did the same with the other, taking only seconds to do so.

'Definitely Batman.' I said. I thought I heard him laugh, but I didn't have time to find out because we had been caught out by the group that had ran by before. It didn't take us long to cut them down, no thanks to Merrick yelling at us to pick it up before the entire base came in to get us.

When we were clear, Kick told us that we were still on schedule. I felt a buzz run through me when we entered our target area and Merrick cleared off the innocent workers that didn't deserve to be caught up in any cross-fire. We knew that we were going to get found here, and Hesh needed two and a half minutes to complete the download. This was when it was going to get real hot.

'Get the defences set up!' Merrick barked once our bags had been set down.

'I'll take left side.' Logan glanced over at me and I nodded, getting to work with setting up the turret before planting mines and shockwave claymores on the right. The first wave of Feds came in the way we had, and they didn't really pose much of a threat. It was when they breached the doors on either side of the room that things got a little more difficult. The panic I had felt earlier began to squeeze past any form of lingering excitement, and I fell back from my cover by the railing to stand closer to Hesh. I could see now that there was too many of them, and I didn't want him being completely exposed. Nope, no way. Logan had that side covered anyway.

'Right side!' Keegan shouted. I looked over quickly, but didn't want to chance leaving my new position. Instead, I threw down some tear gas, slowing them greatly and helping him in taking them out. I thought I'd done good, but it apparently wasn't enough, 'Ella, move!'

'No!' It was all but a snarl, and I hated myself for snapping at him like that. I could blame the circumstance and say it was because we were under so much pressure and that tension's were riding so high, but I knew that it was all because he had asked me to shift position, which would've meant leaving Hesh without proper protection. I would apologise to him later, but now wasn't the time to be stammering out excuses.

'Download's done!' It had only taken a couple of minutes to complete, but it had felt like an hour at least.

'Kick, data's secure. Make the call!' When Merrick moved, that was our prompt to follow, but not before we covered our exit, 'Pop some smoke!' It gave us all the time we needed to get through the door behind us without any of them seeing which way we had went.

'We're hearing chatter on the emergency frequencies. Not long before they're onto you.' Kick said. I cursed quietly, but held my tongue when we entered the elevator. The doors closed and we took a time check.

'We're going out the same way we came in.' Merrick said. My stomach dropped and my chest tightened again, 'Keep your weapons low, but ready. Time to blend in.' He motioned towards Keegan, 'Leg. Help him.' Hesh stepped forward and put his arm around Keegan, pretending to support him while he pretended to be injured, 'Don't shoot unless you wanna fight your way outta here.' I gulped at the thought. If it had been bad back there when we were under attack, it would be ten times worse out here. No cover. No defenses.

The elevator halted and I took a shuddering breath. Logan gave my hand a quick squeeze and I nodded, laying it on his shoulder and clutching my ribs with the other. The doors opened and we all limped out, Merrick with his hands raised as he explained to them that we had been jumped by imposters, traitors. That it was too heavy in there and that we were lucky to get out.

We passed the wreckage of the door we had blown open and that's when we slowly edged out of our injured poses. Kick told us that they were starting to round up their own guys and we had to start moving a bit quicker. How long would it take any of them to realise that there was something just a little wrong with the way we were acting?

'Just lost our eyes.' Kick said.

'They have the plant.' Keegan muttered quietly as we passed. I chanced one quick look at the three soldiers who had just cut off our inside view to whatever was going on. We hurried on and I ground my teeth when I saw that one of Feds was standing guard with an attack dog. It barked at us on our way by and I cringed. _We were so screwed_.

'Pick up the pace.' There was an edge to Merrick's tone and that did nothing to help my nerves. He couldn't panic. He was Merrick, he had to stay calm. We pushed ourselves into a light jog, not fast enough to draw suspicion, but fast enough to get us out of there before they figured out that we were the ones who had caused all of this.

'Hurry up and get in.' I yanked open the door of a truck and jumped in. We had to wait for Merrick's signal before engaging, but it was kind of hard to hear anything over the siren that was now blaring through the entire base. It rang round and round my head and I squeezed my eyes shut against it, allowing myself a few seconds to lean into Logan when we started moving. He patted my knee and I sat up straight again. Hesh was talking about kill estimates and rattling off names of cities, but before he could elaborate on what the hell he was talking about, the truck slowed.

'Keep it tight. Exfil will be here in two minutes.' _2 minutes_. If one more person said to me today that something would take just 2 minutes, I was going to scream.

'They're stopping vehicles.' Keegan growled, agitated.

'Keep to the script. Stop, but be ready.' Merrick said. Keegan's conversation with the guard quickly began to escalate and I tried not to flinch at the harsh tones being used. I heard the click of a gun and my eyes flicked down to see Hesh loading his pistol. He turned his head to nod at me and Logan and my jaw set. _Get ready_.

In one quick movement, he raised his pistol and pulled the trigger. As soon as that first shot was fired, Keegan stomped down on the gas and we lurched forward, tearing our way out of the base. The first couple of enemy trucks tried to block us off and Logan jumped up to get on the turret. I reached for something to grab onto, almost flying clean out of my seat when we crashed through them. It didn't get any easier. We were getting shot at left, right and centre, which meant Keegan had to drive like a complete lunatic to keep us out of their range.

'Neptune, this is Merrick, we are inbound for a hot exfil!'

'Understood. We will be in position in forty-five seconds.' Okay, we could stick it out for another 45 seconds, right? Logan fired another shot from the turret and another shudder jolted through me when it smashed into the ice. It was helping to keep the Feds at bay, but we were driving on _ice_. What if it was to suddenly crack beneath us too?

A truck slammed into the side of us and my train of thought was cut short when Keegan almost lost control and sent us crashing into a glacier. A curse fell from his lips, an apology was shouted from Logan, a warning was thrown by Hesh.

'Neptune, we are at the extraction point, over!' Merrick had managed to stay collected, and I let myself breathe a small sigh of relief. There were still a couple of trucks that Logan had to take care of, but now we were home free. We had done it!

'Neptune One is on station. Surfacing now.' The back of the submarine broke through the ice and I gritted my teeth as Keegan accelerated again, just enough to get us up and on top of it. When we stopped, I gave my stomach a few moments to settle before climbing out with the rest of them, following them down into the sub where I knew Dad would be waiting.

* * *

I pulled my helmet off once I was off the ladder and ran my fingers through my hair, 'I am so glad that's over.'

'You still look like a boy.' I wasn't sure if Merrick was teasing me or if he was being serious. He kept such a straight face all the time, it was hard to tell. Either way, I made sure to give him my best scowl.

We were met by an operator of some sorts and he led us through the halls, chattering away about anything and everything. I liked him, and since nobody else seemed to be taking him on, I volunteered myself to be the conversationalist while we walked. It was nice to talk to someone outside of the team about things that didn't involve the Federation or Rorke or foiling either of their plans.

All too soon, we stopped outside a door that the operator knocked on twice. He opened it just enought to poke his head in and I saw him motion towards us all, 'Sir, they're onboard.' I grinned when I heard Dad's voice telling him to send us in and bounced past the operator, patting his arm on the way by.

'Hey.' I fell into the seat next to Dad and placed my helmet on the table in front of me. I noticed Kick sitting with a laptop at the other end of the table and I nodded my head towards him in greeting.

'Did the data give us anything?' Merrick hadn't even taken a seat yet before firing the questions.

'Yes. We believe the Federation missile program is being developed in a factory near the port of Rio.' While we had been making our way here, Dad and Kick had managed to transfer over the data that Hesh had secured, getting a head start on finding any intel that could help us out.

'That coastline is locked down by the Feds 3rd fleet.' Merrick frowned.

'That's why we're headed south to make a diversionary attack on their Atlas platform, in the heart of the Drake Passage.' Dad raised a hand towards the wall and Kick tapped a button on his laptop, bringing up a map that showed us exactly where we were going.

'That's pretty far behind the line.' Logan ran a thumb over his bottom lip as he studied it. Hesh made an identical movement before glancing back towards Dad.

'What's the advantage of taking it now?'

'The Atlas provides enough fuel to keep the Fed running for years. And I don't want you to take the Atlas... I want you to sink it.' He said it so dramatically that I wanted to fist pump the air and shout "Fuck, yes!", but I knew that that would end in my staying put when the guys went out to do the job. So I stayed seated and let my enthusiasm bubble away just under the surface. It soon squelched when I looked back at the map.

'Wait... How long is it gonna take us to get there?'

'A few days.' A vague answer, but it was enough. We were gonna be stuck on this submarine for at least 3 days until we got to Rio. I tried not to let my hopes sink at the thought of what a long and boring journey this was going to be and listened to the rest of the plan. When we were done, I caught Keegan's eye and remembered the way I had acted back in the Fed base. If we were all gonna be stuck down here together, I needed to clear the air.

He left the room first so I had to jog to catch up with him. I caught his jacket sleeve, 'Hey.' When he turned, my stomach twisted and I felt... Nervous? Shy? I had no idea what I was going to say to him!

'What is it?' His expression was blank and he gave nothing away.

'I just wanted to, um...' I bit my lip and lowered my gaze for a few seconds. _Get it together, idiot_! I thought to myself quickly. It was only Keegan, and I only wanted to apologise for being a bitch. There, that's all I had to say.

'Everything okay?' His voice was gentle as he pushed at me to finish my sentence.

'Yeah, fine.' I forced a smile and swallowed hard, trying to ignore the trembling in my gut, 'I just want to say sorry for snapping at you back at the base. It's just that Hesh-'

'It's fine.'

'Huh?' My eyes snapped up to meet his and I was surprised to see now that they were warm and welcoming.

'It's fine.' He laughed, 'You were just wanting to look out for your brother, so what? Did you think I was mad?'

'Uh-' Oh my God. This was not how it was meant to go. He was meant to just accept my apology and go along his merry way. He wasn't meant to carry this on longer than necessary. He'd gone off the script that I'd written for us in my head and now I was struggling to improvise.

'You did.' His mouth quirked up into a half smile and he took a tiny step closer. He stopped and just looked at me. I remained frozen on the spot, trying to think of what else to say. His smile fell slightly and his features softened. My heart thumped loudly when he raised his hand and took a lock of my hair between his fingers, twirling it absently, 'I think it's sweet how much you care about them.'

'Thank you.' It came out as a squeak. He caught me under his gaze again and for one crazy, insane moment, I thought that he might actually kiss me, but whatever he saw on my face made him drop my hair and take a hurried step back.

'No problem.' His voice was back to being gruff and serious. I opened my mouth... But once again, my brain failed me. So when he turned his back and left me hanging, all I could do was stare after him, gaping unattractively.

What the hell just happened?

* * *

***Keegans POV***

****** I had trusted myself not to get too attached to her. I had trusted myself to keep it light and fun. I had trusted myself to let her in without feeling anything more than... Tolerance. But as it turns out, I couldn't trust myself at all.

Because I was attached to her. It was still light and fun, but there was something else there. Something I hadn't felt in a long time, something I didn't _want_ to feel. She was making me care. I didn't want to care. Caring gets you hurt.

It was too late to back down now and I probably couldn't anyway, not even if I tried. I kept managing to catch myself at the last minute, but I had to keep some sort of distance. I had to. I was letting her get too close. I didn't want her getting close. Letting people close gets you hurt.

But it looks like I really was willing to risk getting hurt again. I could deny it all I liked, but I knew that deep down, I did care. I did want her getting too close. If anything, she was still too far away. I wanted to laugh with her every day and I wanted to kiss her every morning and I wanted to hold her every night.

I didn't want to say it out loud. I didn't want to make it final. If I allowed myself to even think it, my entire resolve would crumble, and I still had to keep up a strong front. I couldn't let her see what she had done to me. Not yet.

The game was over. Ella won. ******


	13. Cabin Fever

**_Hey guys! So I got the results back from my conference and 3 companies want to consider making the book I published last year into a feature film/TV series! I am so damn excited and I told you I'd keep you updated so there ya go. But now it's just more waiting, which means more time for updates on here! Anyway, here's the next chapter with lots of Keegan and I hope you enjoy! x_  
**

* * *

_I've got another confession,_  
_I fell to temptation,_  
_And there is no question,_  
_There was some connection._

_- ... To Be Loved (Papa Roach)_

* * *

I should've slept for hours after the stressful adventure we'd just been on, and I should've slept in because there was nothing else to do, but it was just to typical that my sleep was restless and broken. I was up before anybody else on the team, so I had to find my own way around and find a way to kill time alone.

I finally found the small cafeteria and ate breakfast with a couple of other workers from the sub who had their own early starts. They were funny and I was almost sad when they told me that they were going to be late if they stuck around any longer. Then I was alone again. I checked the clock that hung next to one of the exit signs and hopped to my feet. It was almost 7, which meant that there wouldn't be that much of an argument if I went to get the guys up now.

I tapped lightly on my brothers' door. There was no sound of movement and I took that as a go-ahead to let myself in. Riley was curled up at the bottom of Hesh's bed. His head lifted and his tail thumped against the sheets when he saw me enter.

'Hey, boy.' I placed a quick kiss on his nose and glanced over at Logan, 'They've slept long enough, right?' Riley licked the back of my hand and I laughed quietly, 'I'm glad you think so too.'

Over the years, I'd learned that trying to prise either of them out of their sleep gently was near enough impossible. So I leaped onto the bottom of Logan's bed, landing as heavily as I could and "accidentally" falling on his legs. He jerked awake with a yelp, eyes wild. That small sound of alarm was all it took to have Hesh bolting up too, asking if everything was okay before his eyes were even properly open.

'Rise and shine!' I sang happily. Both of them stopped and looked over, faces slowly sliding into glares when they realised that it was only me.

'What time is it?' Logan asked.

Hesh squinted at his digital watch and flopped back down onto his pillows. 'Way too early to be dealing with our baby sister.'

'Get out of here, Ella.' Logan yawned and burrowed himself under the covers too. I scoffed and threw myself onto my back.

'But there's nothing to do! I can't sleep and nobody else is up.' My eyes found a spot on their ceiling, 'Can I just hang out here?'

'No.' Their answers were simultaneous.

'Can I take Riley?'

'Knock yourself out.' Hesh nudged our dog lightly with his foot, shooing him off the bed. And that was my cue to leave. With a heavy sigh, I pushed myself back up to my feet and left them be.

'Alright then. What is there for a girl and her dog to do on a submarine?' I spoke aloud to Riley, not worrying if someone overheard. Anybody that had ever known Riley had talked to him like he was human, especially back at Santa Monica. My throat tightened unexpectedly at the memory of our old base. Riley picked up on it and whined lightly, pressing his nose to my hand. I looked down into his wide brown eyes and smiled, 'I'm okay. Just getting stupid and sentimental.'

We wandered aimlessly for a while. We only bumped into 2 people and they didn't have the time to hang around for a chat. It was tedious and I was starting to think that I wasn't going to last another day of this, let alone 3. Keep me holed up in a safe base on the ground, fine. I could handle that, easy. But staying in a submarine was proving to be a lot harder than it first seemed. There was just something horrible about knowing that you couldn't go outside whenever you wanted for some fresh air or just for a simple walk in the sun.

'Should we go try and get the guys up again?' I asked Riley eventually. He took no notice of my words and continued to trot along the corridor, 'Okay, I'll take that as a no.' I shrugged. His nose went into the air as we neared the rec room and a quick smile flashed onto my face, 'Is somebody else up?'

'Is there a reason you sound so happy about that?' I about jumped out of my skin when Keegan's voice sounded from behind me.

'Fucking hell, Keegan, a little warning would be nice.' I laid a hand over my heart as if that would help slow it down.

He laughed and walked around me, 'Riley knew I was coming. It was your senses that were off.' He bent slightly and ran his fingers through Riley's ruff before glancing back at me, 'You're up early.'

'Couldn't sleep.' Now I was certain that I wasn't having a heart attack, I carried on towards the rec room, 'What about you?'

'I'm a morning person. It was kind of mandatory in the Marines. I guess it was a habit that just stuck.'

'You were in the Marines?' I picked my words carefully. Of all the conversations we'd had, he had never really spoke about himself ever. If he did, it was vague and drew the talk in a different direction. Or he just refused to speak, which effectively ended all topics of discussion. This was new, and I didn't want to ruin whatever had gotten into him.

'Sure was. Sergeant Russ, scout sniper.' He smiled to himself and it made me grin, 'But then I was put into Operation Sand Viper.' He leaned over my head and pushed open the rec room door, holding it open until me and Riley were through.

'Operation Sand Viper?'

'I thought Elias told you the story?'

'Oh!' I stopped and looked round at him, 'That's when the Ghosts formed, right?'

'Right.' He stepped round me and went to make himself some coffee. I thought that he was done talking and went to pester him for more information, but I didn't have to. He twisted to look at me, then took out two mugs, 'How much did Elias tell you?'

'Just that there was 60 of you, then 15, and that you guys basically destroyed the enemy with your bare hands.' I joined him at the counter, standing close enough so that his arm brushed mine every time he moved.

'That's basically it.' He glanced down at the little space there was between us, and then carried on with making our coffee. He didn't ease away. He didn't even look twice. It made me glow inside, but I tried not to read too much into it.

For the next hour or so, Keegan and I sat on the sofa together talking about the different missions we had been on, and the ones that were going to be coming up. We were in the middle of discussing what would happen if we ever caught Rorke again when the door swung open and Merrick interrupted us. I felt a flash of annoyance and I was sure that Keegan was going to stand up and put distance between us, but he didn't. At some point when he had been telling me about his first few weeks in the Ghosts, I had made myself more comfortable and one of my legs ended up over his knees. He hadn't been phased at all. He even used my shin as a place to rest his mug.

'Morning.' All he did was lean back a bit to greet Merrick.

'Morning.' Merrick noticed the way we were sitting and his brow furrowed slightly, 'How long have you been putting up with her?'

'About an hour. Give or take.'

'I feel for you.'

'You could always step in, give him a break...' I grinned at him and he scoffed, saying he would rather throw himself out of the escape hatch. I laughed, 'It's too easy.'

'Don't you have better things to do?' He sat down on one of the seats and put his feet up on the rickety old coffee table.

'Nope.' I sighed and stretched, glancing over sharply when I felt Keegan's hand come to rest on my ankle. He shot me a look that I didn't quite understand and I tried not to frown at him.

'Your dad's getting breakfast. I'm sure he'll find something productive for you to do.' Merrick didn't seem to notice our little exchange. He just pulled a pack of cards from his pocket and started shuffling them.

'What if I wanted to stay here and play cards with you?' I asked innocently. If looks could kill, I would've dropped dead on the spot. I didn't let it bother me - I was used to him now. When he started dealing them out into two piles, I took the hint and reluctantly got to my feet. I had enjoyed my time with Keegan, and I didn't want it to end so soon. I was just hoping that we had more chances like that, even if it was only five minutes a time.

'Catch you guys later!' I called over my shoulder as I left the rec room with Riley. Merrick mumbled something incoherent and Keegan smiled, which was more than good enough for me.

I bumped into Dad as he was leaving the cafeteria with the operator that had met us yesterday.

'Ella! What can I do for you?' Dad smiled.

'Merrick told me to be productive. I need something to do that doesn't involve playing cards with him.'

'There isn't really anything... ' He trailed off and rubbed at his chin while he thought of a task to give me. Run a lap of the sub? Sift through a pile of paperwork? Hoover the carpets? Mop the floors?

'I could give you a tour.' The operator piped up. We both looked at him and he shrugged, 'It would kill a bit of time until your old man finds something better for you to be doing.'

'Sure.' I liked this guy, but I would've rather done the paperwork than be shown round the place that was making me so restless in the first place.

'Take Riley,' Dad caught me under his stare and I tilted my head slightly in confusion. He only ever told us to take Riley with us when he was worried. Did he not trust our own allies?

'I'll be back in an hour.' I assured him. Just to make him happy, I made sure that Riley was walking between us when we left. Though, I honestly had no idea why he was worrying. There was absolutely nothing wrong with this guy, who introduced himself properly as Nick. He had a fiancée at home and was planning on having a kid with her one day. He was just being friendly and Dad was just being the over-bearing father. Probably making up for the times that he couldn't do things like that; the times where Hesh and Logan had stepped up in his place for it.

The tour hadn't taken too long, and we were now hanging out in his office where he had told me about what kind of role he played in keeping this place running smoothly. We both agreed that it was one of the most boring jobs in the world and reverted to just chatting.

'When the time comes, I definitely think that you should convince your fiancée to call it Ella if it's a girl.' I swung back on my chair and grinned at Nick. It seemed to make him happy talking about his future and it made me wonder about my own. But unlike him, I didn't want to wonder. I was happy not knowing what was waiting for me in the days to come. It made life easier to live now.

'I'll try.' He laughed. I saw Riley move and placed my chair back down onto all four legs. His ears had swivelled and his nose was twitching, but he was still lying by my feet, so he wasn't worried about whoever was coming. I watched the door and grinned when I saw Merrick.

'Captain.' I greeted him.

He ground his teeth and then jerked his head, 'Come on.'

'Where we going?'

'Elias decided to put you through your paces.' He saw my intentional blank expression and he hesitated, not sure if I really didn't understand or if I was just winding him up again, 'He wants you to do some training...'

I couldn't hold a straight face anymore and laughed, 'Every time.' I got to my feet and clicked my fingers towards the door, getting Riley out of the office first.

'Watch it, kid. I might change my mind and decide that I do want to spend the rest of the day kicking your ass.' Merrick clamped a hand down onto my shoulder and steered me away down the hall.

'Bye, Nick!' I shouted behind me, then turned to Merrick, 'So you're not jumping at the chance to kick my ass. I must be rubbing off on you.'

'You wish. I have more important things to do, believe it or not.'

'Or not. I think you're scared.' For the second time this morning, I got the Merrick Death Glare and I shrank down slightly, 'Jeez, I believe you, calm down.'

'Every time.' He chuckled and patted my shoulder and pushed me towards a door which must've been the training room. He gave a sharp whistle through his teeth and Riley changed his course. Looks like he was gonna be hanging out with Merrick for a while then. I stared after him and he smirked, 'Don't dish it out...'

'Yeah, yeah, whatever.' I stuck my tongue out at him as angrily as I could before yanking the door open and stomping inside, brow furrowing when I saw Keegan standing with Dad. I was training with these two?

'You were meant to be back ten minutes ago.' Dad checked his watch.

'I lost track of time. Sue me.' I walked over and plucked the rubber knife from his fingers, 'Where's Hesh and Logan?'

'They're more than happy to just enjoy their time off. They might be down later, but for now, you need to brush up on your hand-to-hand.'

'What?' I pulled my eyebrows together in a confused frown, 'You were the one that taught me that. How can I get any-'

'Ella.' He held up a hand, cutting me short, 'I know you can hold your own with other soldiers, but if the time ever came when you had to face Rorke, you would need to do more than just that. I'm not saying that you ever will, but it would help knowing that you had a fighting chance.' I flinched at the thought. I was hoping that it would never ever come to that. Dad would have him killed before he even tried to hurt the rest of his team, I was sure.

'Precautionary measure. I get it.' I nodded.

'Exactly.' He clapped his hands together, 'Right. I'll leave you to it. I'll be back to see how you're coming along in a couple of hours.'

'Wait, you're not staying?' My heart tripped at the thought of being alone with Keegan again.

'Some of us still have work to do.' He smiled, 'Don't worry, you're in good hands.' And then he was gone. The atmosphere in the room shifted dramatically and I turned back round to face Keegan, praying that I was the only one who felt it.

'Get bored of Merrick?' I asked.

'Something like that.' He grinned and flipped the rubber knife he held in his own hands, 'And I couldn't turn down the chance to see how well you fair up against a fully trained Ghost.'

'You really underestimate me.' I lunged forward without warning, hoping to press the fake blade into his stomach, but he had already feigned to the left. I stopped and whirled.

'Do I?' He arched an eyebrow, 'I'm still waiting to be amazed.' I dove for him again, but he danced back out of my reach, his grin growing wider by the second. It made the back of my throat ache and I gripped the handle of my knife tighter.

'You're meant to be helping me.' I huffed, trying to sound angry.

'And I will. But I need to see what you can do first.' So it went for the next fifteen minutes. He was too quick, too smart. He seemed to know exactly what move I was going to make before I made it, and it was infuriating. My confidence in my own abilities was beginning to crack and he must have sensed that too, because he told me to stop and watch his demonstration. I had much more fun watching him do that, admiring the way he moved and marvelling in the muscle that was usually hidden beneath all his gear. It was hard to keep my mind on what he was telling me.

'Your turn.' He took a step back and I made a face. It would take me months to ever be able to move as smoothly as he had. I stood in front of him and gritted my teeth, mentally preparing myself for another fail.

'Ready.' I lifted my knife and he came at me first. I ducked and went to swing the blade round into his side, but he spun and caught my wrist with ease, twisting it up behind my back. I fully expected him to throw me away and tell me to try again, but he yanked me back against his chest and rested one of his arms on my shoulder, letting his knife touch the hollow of my neck as a reminder that once again, he got the upper hand.

'Were you even listening?' His breath was warm against my ear and I could do nothing to stop the shudder that rippled down my spine. He was still holding me to him, so he must've been expecting an answer.

My heart began to race when the words formed on my tongue, 'I was distracted.' It might have seemed innocent enough if I hadn't craned my neck to look at him when I said it. He met my stare and my breath caught at what I saw in his eyes.

_Kiss him, you idiot!_ My inner voice was screaming at me and tearing her hair out when I didn't act on her advice immediately. It would've been too easy. Our lips were so close. I would just have to stretch up on my tiptoes...

The door opened and our bubble burst. Keegan cleared his throat and quickly let me go, stepping back and telling me to take a break. It took a few moments for any coherent thought to come back to me, and when it did, a blush began to creep it's way onto my face.

'There you are, Ella! Dad said I could find you down here.' Hesh poked his head round the door, 'Wanna grab some lunch?'

'Sure, be there in a sec.' I forced a smile. Lunch was the last thing on my mind right now, but I really could use the chance to clear my head after that.

'You need to introduce us to your new friend too, so don't be long.' He flashed me a thumbs up and then the door swung closed.

'New friend... That the guy you were talking to yesterday?' Keegan asked. He held out his hand for my knife and I placed it gently into his palm.

'Yeah. Jealous?' It was out before I could stop myself and I cringed mentally.

'Maybe.' He turned away to put the weapons back in their place and I let my jaw drop. _Was he serious_?

'I, uh, I-'

'Be back in half an hour,' He walked back over and his fingers went to my elbow as he led me from the room.

'Half an hour?'

'Training's not over yet.' One corner of his mouth tugged up into that amazing little half-smile and I struggled to find breath again. I didn't even bother with answering him. I was starting to get used to the way he would just walk away, always having to have the last word. This time though, I didn't mind watching him go. Not when I knew that he would be waiting for me when I got back.

The thought split my face into a grin and I all but skipped down to the cafeteria. Maybe being stuck down here for the next few days wouldn't be so bad after all.


	14. Cross Your Heart

**_There's only so much you can do with a submarine setting so this was just really randomly thrown together haha. Oh, and 'Kella'. I love it! You guys are awesome. Enjoy! x_**

* * *

_I've got something I've been meaning to say,  
Oh, even though I'm not supposed to,  
I'm gonna say it anyway._

_- Storylines (A Day Overdue)_

* * *

I was scraping my hair back into a ponytail when Hesh and Logan threw open my door and barged into my room. Their faces dropped when they saw that I wasn't sleeping and I flashed them a grin, 'You look shocked.'

'Uh...'

I had spent the better half of four hours training with Keegan yesterday, and once we were done, he hadn't let me crawl away to my bed like I wanted to. He made me get something to eat and then coaxed me back to the rec room to have that game of cards I never got with Merrick. It was really nice having him make the effort to keep me awake just so we could hang out and talk. So nice that I forgot all about how tired I was after our training and didn't get back to my room until the early hours of the morning. Of course it was just my luck that Hesh had chosen that time to get up for the toilet.

'You thought I'd still be in bed.' My grin widened, 'You guys never were the best at payback.'

'Why are you even up? Aren't you tired?' Logan groaned in frustration and slumped down onto my neatly made bed.

'A little.' That was a lie. I was exhausted and my muscles ached every time I moved, but I was still on a high after my day with Keegan yesterday. I had woken up feeling excited, not groggy. The thought of getting to see him smile was all it took to keep me from turning over and going back to sleep.

'You're such a freak, you know that right?'

'Must run in the family.' I ducked under Hesh's outstretched arm as he went to pull me into a headlock and danced out into the hall. Straight into Kick.

'Whoa, someone's happy this morning.' He rubbed at his eyes and squinted down at me, 'Maybe a little too happy.'

'I beat Keegan yesterday. I'm looking forward to not letting him live it down.' I couldn't exactly come out and tell anybody that the reason I was so happy was because of getting to see Keegan in general, so I was going to tell them the next best thing. I really did manage to beat him in training. It was only a mere fluke, and he had been willing to give me that one and call it a day, but I become confident and aimed to beat him a second time, then a third and a fourth. Though I was sure he had just started letting me win.

'He must've been feeling generous.'

'My thoughts exactly.' I sighed and crossed my arms, peering back into my room, 'Are you two coming or what? I'm hungry.'

'Me too.' Logan appeared first, quickly followed by Hesh. I didn't trust either of them, so before they could close the door, I popped my head back in to see if there was any sign of disturbance.

'You're paranoid, Ella.' Hesh grabbed the back of my shirt and hauled me out, 'Revenge will be much sweeter than doing something to your room.'

'Hang on. What have I missed this time?' They filled Kick in on their wake up call yesterday and I pranced ahead smugly. Today was going to be good day. Well, it would be if I managed to keep myself going through it.

Once Hesh and Logan were over themselves, Kick told us about what they had planned for the next mission so far. As always, a thrill ran through me when I thought about getting to throw myself into the fight, but I couldn't shake one stupid, niggling worry.

'And if we don't make it off the platform in time?' I chewed at my thumbail.

'Don't be such a pessimist. Of course we'll make it off in time. We're not Ghosts for nothing.' Kick scoffed.

'I just don't fancy the idea of being blown to pieces or getting burnt to a crisp, that's all.' I lifted one shoulder in a lazy shrug. The idea wasn't putting me off. Just making me a little nervous.

'You could always stay here. Elias wouldn't mind.'

'Elias wouldn't mind what?' I grinned when a shadow loomed over the table and Dad leaned an arm onto Kick's shoulder.

'Ella staying here when we go to sink Atlas.' Logan spoke round a mouthful of toast. Dad's eyebrows almost jumped to his hairline.

'No, no, I didn't suggest it.' I shook my head quickly, 'I'm not turning down an opportunity to get off this damned thing.'

'Stop complaining about getting blown up then.' Hesh scrunched up his unused napkin and threw it at my face. I caught it easily and placed it down onto the table. I wasn't going to get into a stupid fight with him when Dad was standing right beside me. I'd throw it back when he was gone.

'You have nothing to worry about, Ella.' Dad laid his hand on my head for a few seconds to give me that extra bit of comfort to accompany his words, 'Not with this team.' A hint of pride laced his tone and I glanced up at him. I thought he had couldn't have been more proud of Fort Santa Monica, but that was nothing compared to the emotion I'd seen him express towards his fellow Ghosts since we joined them. These people were the ones who had kept him sane and happy when he'd been away from me, Hesh and Logan for so long. This was his second family, and he loved them just the same.

I reached behind me and squeezed his fingers, 'I know. They're great.' I heard two more voices and leaned around him to see Merrick and Keegan coming towards us. I smiled, 'Even Merrick.'

'Huh?' His eyes snapped to mine when I mentioned his name.

'Nothing you need to worry yourself about.' I slid my gaze over to Keegan and my smile widened instantly. I felt a quick flash of panic when it seemed to go straight over his head, but when they drew closer, he gave me a returning grin that was surprisingly bright for him.

'Those showers are nasty.' He plopped down next to Logan and snatched up a piece of his toast.

'Tell me about it.' Merrick opted to stand. His towel was still hanging round his neck, and by the way he was holding the sides, I don't think he was planning on sticking around for long, 'I knew there was a reason why I was glad to leave the SEALS.'

Submarines weren't known for their good hygiene. There were usually only 2 showers between the entire crew - they were always tiny - and you were on a limit to the amount of time you could spend in them. Dad had asked me last night before he went to bed if I'd wanted one, but I'd kindly refused. My hair was long and awkward. I didn't want to be half way through shampooing it and then have to get out. I could deal with feeling gross for a couple more days.

'I didn't know you were in the SEALS.' I said to Merrick.

'That's because I didn't tell you.'

'Why?'

'Because you're annoying and you ask too many questions.'

'That hurt my feelings.'

'Good.'

'Both of you stop right there.' Dad raised his voice over us, 'It's still too early for your bickering. No fights before 12.'

'Ooh, that's a good rule. Think we can stick to that?' I beamed up at Merrick and he grunted in response. He swiped up piece of Logan's breakfast and I laughed when I saw my brother's down-hearted expression. He really was too nice for his own good sometimes.

Merrick only stayed for as long as Dad did, then they left to go over some last minute things before the briefing tomorrow. Hesh and Logan stood shortly after and I got to my feet with them. I really, really wanted to stay with Keegan, even if Kick was here too, but I couldn't spend too much time with him without somebody picking up on it.

It would've probably been more fun staying with them though. Hesh and Logan just went to the rec room and lazed around. There was no point in starting up a fuss about it, so I curled up on one of the chairs and accidentally fell asleep. One minute we'd been talking about the first things we would do when we got back to a safe base on the ground, then I'd closed my eyes. When I opened them again, everyone was here.

'Told you she wasn't dead.' Hesh threw a card at Kick.

'What?' I laid my chin on the arm of the chair and blinked slowly a few times.

'Never mind.' Another card came flying in my direction, 'Dopey.' I watched the card twirl in the air then dive towards the carpet, nowhere near where I was sitting.

'Whatever you say.' A yawn shuddered through me and I pushed myself into a proper sitting position, 'What time is it?'

Dad checked his watch, 'Almost 2.'

'2?' All hints of sleep were wiped clean from my brain, 'Why didn't you wake me up?' They all looked between each other and a couple of them shrugged. Hesh and Logan looked at each other and grinned.

'What did you do?' I glowered and swung my legs round until my feet touched the floor.

'Nothing! Honestly.' Logan caught the card Hesh flicked at his face, 'We knew you were lying to us this morning. We thought you needed a little more sleep. And it was nice to have a little peace and quiet.'

'You're hilarious.' I was meant to sound snappy, but it came out as more of a sigh as I pushed myself up and went to make some coffee. I shook my head when they continued to talk about me like I wasn't still here.

'I think it was the training that did it.' Logan sounded more sympathetic now, probably remembering how hard his own training was. Now we knew why Dad had made it so intense.

'I'll have to tire her out more often then.' Keegan's words made me glance round. He was stretching and using that opportunity to shoot me one of his cheeky smirks. My face heat up and I quickly turned away.

'Not a bad idea. How did she do anyway?' Dad carried the conversation on and I felt a jab of relief that nobody else had seen our sly exchange. I stopped listening after that. I was more busy with trying to decide if I was just imagining all these little things Keegan had been doing, or if it really was actually happening. It's been known for people to go crazy when they're down in subs, and I wouldn't be surprised if I was one of those unlucky ones.

That thought pulled my mouth down at the corners. I don't know how I would react if I found out that Keegan had just been being friendly this entire time. Probably cut Merrick to the chase and throw myself out of the escape hatch first.

When I sat back down, it finally registered that Logan had a bottle of whiskey lying in his lap. I didn't say anything, and just watched as he took a swig then wordlessly handed it to over to Hesh.

'Where'd you get that?' I asked eventually.

'You're not the only one who's been making friends, baby sister.' Logan winked.

'We plan on getting royally smashed.' Hesh grinned and put the bottle to his lips.

'At 2 in the afternoon?'

'It's never too early.' Kick defended them and let his head roll back so he could stare at the ceiling, 'Especially when there's nothing better to do.'

'See, he knows.' Logan extended his knuckles, bumping them against Kick's. When they were busy discussing their worst hangovers, Dad whispered that he was he was still here with Kick, Merrick and Keegan to make sure that my brother's didn't get as drunk as they thought they were going to. I smiled and nodded. I didn't have the heart to tell him that Hesh and Logan were smarter than that. If they said they were getting smashed, they were getting smashed.

I stuck around for a while after I finished my coffee, then I began to feel restless. I laid my mug on the table and stood up again, 'I think I'm gonna leave you boys to it.'

'Where you going?' Kick asked.

'No idea. Probably just back to my room. Or I might see if Nick's not busy. Could hang out with him for a while.' I shrugged and sneaked a glance at Keegan. He was busying himself with the pocket of his trousers. He probably hadn't even heard me, 'But either way, I'm taking your dog.' I reached over and flicked Hesh's forehead then whistled for Riley. He scrambled up from behind the sofa and trotted over.

'Feel free. Catch you later.' Instead of flicking me back, Hesh just held out his hand for a high five. I slapped my hand to his and said goodbye to everyone before letting myself laugh. That lot had no idea what they were in for when Hesh and Logan finally got round to finishing that bottle.

I went back to the room I had been in with Keegan yesterday and gave myself a little workout for about half an hour, just to burn off the energy that came with the caffeine. Riley sat by the door the entire time and made sure that nobody disturbed us and I fussed over him for a short while for that.

I didn't go looking for Nick to see if he was free. I'd only said it to see if I could get the tiniest bit of a reaction from Keegan, but I'd had no such luck. I really was all set on just hanging out in my room for the rest of the day. Still fully clothed, I had hopped into bed and held the blankets back for Riley. I lay cuddled up to him and talked openly about everything that had been on my mind lately until my stomach rumbled and I went to get some dinner.

The only person I met there was Merrick, and he wasn't in the mood for conversation because, in his own words, "your brothers are pissing me off more than you do." I took it as a compliment seeing as his anger was directed at somebody else for a change, but I didn't wind him up about it. I just told him to humour them and he'd be fine.

It didn't take me long to eat alone, and then I headed back to my room where I changed into something more comfortable and continued to cuddle with Riley. It reminded me of the times when Dad was away and Hesh and Logan were out with their friends and it would only be me and Riley alone in the house. I hated the fact that we'd been deserted at the time, but it didn't seem like such a bad memory now.

As I drifted on the edge of consciousness, I imagined that I was back in my old house in San Diego, back in my old bed in my old room. I was sad because I hadn't seen Dad in a few weeks, but I still had my brothers and I could hear them coming up the stairs now. That must've just been them getting home from that party they were talking about.

Riley jerked and a growl vibrated in his chest, making me jump back to reality. I gripped one hand into Riley's fur while I regained my bearings. I wasn't at home, I wasn't in my bed and I wasn't in my room. Dad was somewhere on this sub with me and Hesh and Logan... And I could still hear them coming.

There was a loud thump and Riley jumped out of bed this time, padding over to sniff at the door. I clambered out behind him and opened the door just enough for him to poke his head through. When I did, I heard whispering and a snorted laugh; another thump and a hushed 'Shit!' then more laughter.

I peered out and grinned when I saw Hesh in a heap against the wall. Logan was trying to help him up, but he was laughing so much he was almost on his knees too. I straightened and watched them for a few moments. How they managed to get in this state, on a fucking submarine of all places, was well beyond me.

Hesh and Logan were the most adorable, loud, hilarious and annoying pair when they were drunk. However, Dad only saw the loud and annoying part, which meant that I'd been left to deal with them every single time they'd ever come home like this. They weren't hard to look after. Like I'd told Merrick, all you had to do was humour them.

'Lost?' I hissed. Their heads snapped up.

'Ellaaaaaaa!' Hesh stretched out the "a" and scrambled to his feet, almost falling face first into the doorframe.

'Where's Dad?'

'Uh...' Logan gave an exaggerated shrug and set himself off balance doing so. He fell forward and I jumped out of the way just in time. He hit the floor and was quiet for a second, then, 'Hesh!'

'Shh!' I giggled and kneeled down next to him, 'Riley's got Hesh.'

'Okay, okay...' He pushed himself up into a sitting position and studied me through squinted eyes, 'Ella.'

'Yes?'

'You and Keegan.'

My smile froze, 'What about us?'

'What's going on?' His words slurred, 'Truthfully.'

I sighed and dipped my head. When I raised it again, I quickly checked to see that nobody else was coming in and sat down properly. He was drunk enough that he wouldn't remember in the morning. Well, that was the only thing I was riding on anyway.

'Cross your heart.' I waited until he had drawn an imaginary X over his chest, then I bit my lip, 'Truthfully, I don't know what's going on. Maybe when all this is over, I'll have a better idea.'

'But you guys are like... Together?'

'No, not exactly, brother.' I laughed. I had to tell him the same thing three times before it got through to him, and even when it did, he scrambled back out into the hall to get to Hesh, who was now leaning heavily against the wall, babbling away to Riley.

'Hesh! We were right!' Logan whispered.

'About what?'

'Keegan! But shhh...'

'Secret?'

'Yeah.'

Hesh nodded then held one finger up, motioning for us to wait a moment. Then he drew it over his heart in the shape of a cross, 'It's safe with me.' They were the ones who had started that between us. They had always made me cross my heart and promise not to tell if they wanted to sneak out without Dad's permission, or if they wanted to take girls and friends back to the house when he was away. It was one of those silly little traditions that had just stuck, but with us, it was our legal binding word that we would keep our mouth shut.

We heard voices and even though I had no reason to be worried, I still froze and listened intently. I peered out past Hesh and saw Keegan walking up the hall with Merrick. Logan grabbed Hesh's shoulder and I tapped at his arm.

'It's okay, just stand still. They won't see you.' I muttered to them. Logan pressed himself against the wall next to Hesh and whispered something incoherent to him. They both started snickering between themselves and I leaned against the doorframe.

Merrick and Keegan slowed to a stop and frowned at the two.

'Don't ask.' I sighed.

'They bothering you?' Keegan asked.

I shook my head and ran a hand through my hair, grimacing only a little when I felt how lank it was, 'Surprisingly, no.'

'We told them to get to bed about half an hour ago.' Merrick said, 'They haven't gotten very far.'

'They tried.' I smiled, 'Care to take them off my hands? I'm not sure if they'll remember where their room is.'

'Whatever.' Merrick grabbed two handfuls of Hesh and Logan's shirts, 'Come on then, you two.' Their eyes were wild and confused, but they allowed themselves to be led along the corridor. I watched them for a few seconds, stifling a giggle when Logan stumbled and Hesh cracked up. I could almost physically feel Merrick's patience wearing even thinner.

'So, how'd your evening go?' I jumped when Keegan spoke, forgetting that he was still here.

'Alright. I've just been lounging around.'

'Was Nick busy?'

'Yeah.' I lied smoothly, struggling to keep a poker face. _He had been listening earlier_! I wanted to push on it more to find out if it bothered him, but I decided it was best to change the subject, 'I can imagine you've been having much more fun with those two.'

'Are you kidding? They wouldn't shut up,' He sighed and crossed his arms, 'Children.'

'Oh, come on. They deserve a break.' I went to jab my elbow into his stomach, but he moved out of the way before I could even graze him.

'Not when we have a briefing tomorrow. It's irresponsible.'

'Maybe you're just getting old.' I stepped in front of him and stretched up on my tiptoes. I pretended to study him intently as I brushed my fingers along his temple, 'I think I even see some grey hair!' I gasped theatrically.

He suddenly grabbed my hand and wrapped it in his own, 'Believe me, I'm young enough.' His voice dropped a few octaves and I loved the husky tone he took on. My body reacted to it instantly, spurring my brain on to spew out the first thing that came to mind.

'Young enough for what, exactly?'

His gaze slanted down the hall before he leaned his face in closer, stopping right before his nose brushed mine, 'You'll just have to wait and see, won't you?' The blood fizzed in my veins and it took all I had not to jump on him there and then.

A door slammed and he dropped my hand before straightening up. Merrick stormed back down the hall, muttering to himself as he went. He paused momentarily at my door, 'Keegan.'

'Coming.' Keegan backed up and I tried not to let myself become disheartened. I put Riley back into my room first and he jumped onto my bed, ready to settle down for the night. I turned to say bye to Keegan and I froze when he reached his hand out. His thumb brushed over my cheekbone and he smiled, 'Goodnight, Ella.'

'Goodnight.' I whispered. But of course, he was already on his way to catch up with Merrick. I closed the door and blew my breath out in a shaky gust. Riley pawed at the covers to get my attention and I looked over at him. He was staring at me with his head tilted, almost as if he was saying "What was all that about?"

'Your guess is as good as mine.' I got back into bed and snuggled down under the covers. He turned and lay the other way so he could touch my cheek with his nose. I pulled one arm out from under the duvet and curled it around his neck, closing my eyes and trying to find the happy place I had been in earlier. But no matter how hard I tried, it was always interrupted by thoughts of a certain sniper with beautiful blue eyes.

Riley picked up on my restlessness and he whined quietly. He twisted to lick the palm of my hand, like he was trying to tell me in his own little way that he was here for me.

'I know, boy.' I sighed and buried my face in his fur. Content in knowing that nobody but my dog was around to hear me, I finally spoke the words that had been plaguing me for days, 'I didn't mean to fall this hard.'


	15. Atlas Falls

**_Hey! Relatively short chapter for a relatively short mission. There's not much that really happens in this one, though I did try and switch it up a little for something new. But the next chapter is Into The Deep aaaaand the one you seem to have all been waiting for...*cough cough* ;) . So I'll make up for the lack of everything in this one, I promise! In the meantime, enjoy! x_  
**

* * *

_Through the fire and the flames,  
A sea of dead drive men insane.  
_

_- This War Is Ours (Escape The Fate)_

* * *

Hesh and Logan had only surfaced for the briefing and something to eat the next day. And when they did, they hardly said two words to anybody and kept their eyes averted from the lights. I tried to ask them how they were feeling, but they just groaned and flipped me off in response.

All the time they'd spent hiding away and sleeping proved to pay off when it was time to go out though. They bounced through to get ready, fresh as fucking daisies. I was waiting with Merrick and Keegan by the door we had to go through to get out and up into the water and Keegan was dangling my mask above my head, just out of my reach when we were joined by Kick and my brothers. Keegan let my mask drop into my hands and I shoved him away from me, and that's when I saw how intently Hesh was watching. He shot me a look that made my stomach sink and I got the worst feeling that he remembered our conversation from the night before.

'Alright, is that everybody ready?' Dad rubbed his hands together as he walked down the hall. He didn't even wait for anybody to confirm it before he opened the door for us, 'You all know what to do. Good luck out there.' Anticipation quivered in my stomach as we pulled on our masks and headed out. It was going to be so damn good to get out of this submarine.

I swam out with Hesh and Keegan to set up plants under the ice away from where Kick, Logan and Merrick were stationing themselves. We waited for Logan to confirm that the last of the convoy had come in and then we braced ourselves when he blew the charges. Hesh, Keegan and I were the first three up and we tried to thin them out as much as we could before we were joined topside by the other three.

'Drop them! Don't let them regroup!' Merrick barked when they were out of the water. I did as he instructed and I loved every second. I knew how weird that sounded. Not many people would say that they enjoy war, but even the ones who said they downright hated having to kill another man couldn't deny the feeling that flowed through their veins. The sheer thrill of life or death ran well with the adrenaline, and it was addictive.

We steadily and quickly worked through the base at the bottom of the rig. I listened to Merrick telling us to push forward and I listened to Kick tell us about the helo coming in that was dropping reinforcements. Hesh told us about the tango's doubling back and Keegan told us that word had gotten back to the rig and that they were mobilizing. I wanted to make an input, but I was too caught up in the rush. My heart thundered and my fingers shook and I was sure that if I tried to speak right now, my words would jumble into a high-pitched incoherent sentence that nobody really had time to listen to.

'We don't have much time.' We all grouped on Merrick and readied our ascender guns.

'Line's out!' Our ropes fired on Kick's mark. I wanted to grin and bounce on the spot when I hooked up, giddy with the excitement of being back out on a mission and away from the confinement of the sub. I knew we would be back in there by the end of the morning, and maybe that was why I was letting this short period of freedom go to my head.

'Keegan, Kick, Ella. You're on exfil duty. You Walker boys are with me.' Merrick said.

'Copy. Moving up.' Keegan jumped up onto one of the crates we were standing next to and pushed himself off. Kick and I shared a look before racing to join him. I'd never been on exfil duty before, but I should've expected it this time. I'd expressed my worries about becoming a human fire-ball, and I'd refused to step down, so securing transport to get us all out of here was the best job for me today.

Merrick began going through the stages of what was going to happen, but I didn't really pay much attention. I figured he was mainly going over it for my brothers sake.

'Keegan! Right above you!' And by the sounds of it, Hesh was more interested in what we were doing. Keegan spotted the guy Hesh was talking about and quickly fired a bullet into his throat.

'Got him! We're up.' I glanced down quickly at the level below while unhooking myself. A part of me didn't want to leave Hesh and Logan, but when I saw Kick's back disappear round a corner, I managed to tear myself away from the fight that was happening beneath us. They would be fine. They always were.

'Ella!'

'Coming!' I cringed when I heard Keegan shout for me over the comms. I ran to catch up with them. Most of the Feds were busy with Merrick, Hesh and Logan, making it easier for us to advance through this level. By the time they realised there were three of us up here as well, it was too late.

'What's the plan then?' I asked.

'Getting to the top deck without dying is a good one.' Kick said, 'There should be a couple of helo's up there that we can borrow.'

'Easier said than done.' Keegan chimed in, 'Let's move.' We stayed close and we stayed low as we moved from floor to floor. We ran into a few Feds along the way, but they were taken out quickly and quietly. By the sounds of it, they were more worried about the other half of our team somewhere on the decks below us, so again, it was relatively easy to catch them off guard.

'Kick, we're internal and moving on the east side.' Merrick's voice crackled into my ear.

'Check.' Kick did a quick scan before motioning for us to move up, 'We need to hurry.' _No pressure then._

'Almost there.' Keegan said. A grin splashed across my face, but it was wiped instantly when a door banged open and two hostiles charged out at us.

'Fuck!' It took a moment to realise that it was me who was doing the cursing, and by that time, one of the soldiers had already lunged. I automatically ducked and dodged, whipping out my knife when he dove past me. He turned and I went to stab at his throat, but he caught my wrist. Panic bubbled in my chest and I knew that I had just seconds before he twisted it and snapped the bone. Some sort of wild survival instinct kicked in and I grabbed the straps of his helmet and slammed his face down into my knee. He cried out and released my wrist, stumbling back. I stepped after him and drove my knife up and into his neck. I let him drop and wiped the blade on my gloves.

'Looks like you did learn something from our training after all.' I felt someone nudge my shoulder and smiled up at Keegan.

'That was just pure skill. You had nothing to do with it.' I teased. A faint bang and a rumble got our attention and the three of us froze.

'Keegan, flare stack's off. Stay clear of the derrick. It's about to get nasty up there.' A warning came through from Merrick and I felt like I had been jolted back into gear. _Step one: Complete_.

'Roger that. We're clear.' Keegan pushed at us to get going, 'Through that door.' I reached it first and turned the handle gingerly. I nudged it open with my boot and lifted my gun when I stepped out. I swung the muzzle round, but we were okay for now. The entire rig creaked and quivered beneath us twice and I immediately reached out to grip Keegan's arm. His hand wrapped around my wrist to keep me steady and we waited until the shaking had stopped.

Suddenly, there was a loud explosion to our left and we looked over to a see a cloud of flames and smoke roar towards the sky. The rig shook again and I turned my face away from the blast, holding one of my arms up to shield my eyes.

'Holy shit.' I whispered. I could see sparks flying down below and the fire from the pressure regulators was reflecting off the thick dark smoke blanketing the sky, creating the illusion that the entire world was burning. I was mesmerised by it and all I could do was stare until Keegan yanked me away.

'It's just up here!' Kick shouted over the chaos. I shook my head sharply and cleared my mind. Merrick, Logan and Hesh were down there and they were relying on us to do our jobs. I followed Kick up a set of metal stairs and almost fell back down them when he shouted. I reached the top and that's when I saw that he was trying to get the attention of the soldiers who were away to board the helo's.

One spotted us and nudged his friend, yelling rapidly in his native tongue and fumbling for his weapon. I took the privilege of shooting him. Kick and Keegan got the rest before I even found them in my scope.

'Get in. Hurry!' Kick grabbed the back of my jacket and all but threw me into the chopper. I landed heavily, but didn't complain. I scrambled back up and went to take position next to him so I could control the mini-guns. Keegan beat me to it and looked at me. His eyes were serious and I imagined that the rest of his expression was just as stern.

'No.' It was the only thing he said. It made me growl, but I took the seat behind them without uttering a word.

'Merrick, we've secured a helo for exfil. Spooling up now.' Kick informed the rest of our team.

'Check. We're two mikes from the command room. Coming up on the north side.' For once, it was a relief to hear Merrick's voice. It was good to know that he was okay. And since he said "we", I was assuming my brothers were okay too. It set my mind at ease a little bit.

'We'll be waitin' for ya.' Kick now sounded eager and his drawl came through more prominently. The engine roared to life and my heart began to beat double time in quick, hard pulses. We lurched into the air and I inhaled deeply as we flew over the carnage those three had caused.

'I bet none of these guys woke up this morning thinking this was gonna happen, huh?' I mused out loud.

'Only because they're idiots. When you make an enemy of the Ghosts, you should kind of expect something like this.' Keegan said.

'Amen.' Kick nodded violently to emphasize how much he agreed. He then steered the helo to the right and held her steady, 'Merrick, we're on station. Ready for targets.'

'Copy that. Just keep an eye on us!' I rose to my feet to get a better look when I saw Merrick waving madly. I squinted and made out Hesh and Logan next to him, alive and unscathed. I wanted to wave back at them all, but I knew the chances were slim that they would see us past the lights.

'Alright then. Let's get this party started.' Kick swung the helo round and I gripped the back of their seats. The turrets tore to life under Keegan's command and we swept over part of the platform, clearing a way for the other three down below. Both of them whooped and slapped their hands together in a high five. I grinned and felt the exhilaration wash over me too when Kick steered us back around for another run. All thoughts of failing this mission and losing one of our own quickly slipped my mind. All I could think about was that if exfil duty was this much fun every time, I would have to start signing myself up for it more often.

'Shit, look out!' Keegan let out a panicked cry and I gasped when the helo jerked to the side. My grip loosened and my feet scrambled to find steady ground. I was moments away from hanging on by my fingernails when Kick regained control.

'What the fuck?' I asked breathlessly.

'They've got machine guns. We can't get close enough to slot them.' Keegan hit the side of his door in frustration. No sooner had we began to get worked up, Merrick announced over the comms that the balcony was secure and we were now clear to engage.

'Copy. Keegan, light it up.' Kick patted his shoulder and their enthusiasm returned with gusto. It made me smile to see how much they were enjoying themselves. Again, I know a lot of people would argue that shooting up an oil rig isn't the most enjoyable thing to do, but in this line of work, your definition of fun becomes a little warped.

'Keegan, we're about to shut down the fire suppression.' We all heard Merrick, but neither of us responded. Keegan was too busy ripping into Kick for almost sending us crashing through the balcony instead of backing us up to get a better vantage point now that the others were inside.

'Are you sure you even know how to fly this thing?' He laughed.

'You're still alive, aren't you?' Kick snapped back. I kept quiet and let them have their fun. Keegan's eyes were glittering in a way I'd never seen before and it was doing weird things to my insides.

We were circling the rig when the first blast went off. My breath jammed in my throat and I craned my neck to see the damage. There was a second blast, bigger this time. It made my stomach ache. A third. I cringed and looked away on the fourth. I was still holding my breath, not wanting to release it until I knew the other three had survived that. I needed to know they were on their way to get picked up right now.

'Keegan! We're on our way to the pipe deck.' _They were alive!_

'Copy. We'll stay as low as we can.' Kick eased us closer to the burning wreckage of Atlas and I swallowed hard, moving towards the door and getting ready to hang out the ladder for them.

'Fuck.' I watched the rig start to collapse in on itself as the flames raged higher and set off more explosions all over the platform. Merrick, Hesh and Logan were sprinting towards us, but I felt the helo pull away. We were getting too close and if there was another blast, we would all be done for.

'Ella, throw it!' I wasn't sure if it was Kick or Keegan that gave the order, but I unravelled the rope ladder and threw it as hard as I possibly could, almost sending myself with it. I kept my fingers wound tightly round the bar by the door and peered out.

'We got them!' I shouted back to Keegan and Kick with a grin. I looked back down at the ladder and Hesh gave me a thumbs up before weakly trying to pull himself up towards me. Merrick seemed to be happy to just dangle and watch the world whiz by him, and Logan looked like he was barely managing to hang on. My stomach dropped when I thought about what would have happened if he hadn't managed to make it off of there. Speaking of which...

I pushed a few loose strands of hair from my eyes and admired their handiwork from afar. It just looked like one massive flame. A massive flame that we had successfully not been engulfed in. The rig shuddered one more time and there was one final bang, and then Atlas split itself into a thousand burning pieces.


	16. Into The Deep

**_Here ya go! God, I'm actually really nervous about uploading this haha. I hope I managed to live up to your expectations and if not then.. Sorry, I guess? Anyway, nice long chapter with _lots_ of Kella for you. Oh, and thank you for all your reviews and your song suggestions for later chapters. I'm super grateful, and I'm always happy to hear new songs to give me more inspiration. But without further ado.. Enjoy!x_**

* * *

_Don't let this change your mind,_  
_I'll say this one more time,_  
_Cliché words count for nothing tonight._

_- Third Time Lucky (Twenty Twenty)_

* * *

***Keegans POV***

**** **It had been a day or two since we sank Atlas. I always lost track of time on the submarine. It never bothered me though. I'd be a pretty shitty sniper if it did. But it bothered Ella. It bothered her a lot, and there was no better way to pass the time than watch the cabin fever get to her. Mainly because she took her anxiety out on Merrick, and it always ended up in arguments that were way too amusing to listen to.

There had been many of times where Kick and I had just sat back and watched them bicker about really petty things. I always rooted for Merrick, partly because he was my Captain and partly because I knew it wound Ella up even more. She was cute when she got aggravated. Kick rooted for her to make her feel better. He liked her, but I think it was only because she reminded him of his niece.

It was all fun and games until she sprawled herself across one of the chairs. Her head was hanging upside down, and she told Merrick that he looked weird from her new angle. All he had to do was sigh and she pushed at it, riling him to the point where he whacked her in the face with the cushion he was leaning his elbow on. She just laughed and reached to pick it up and throw it back. When she did, her t-shirt hitched up to reveal a sliver of her bare stomach and I had to quickly look away and try to ignore the feeling that went pulsing through me.

I was at my absolute breaking point with her. I wanted to wait until this was all over, or even until we got back to a proper safe base on land, but it was becoming increasingly difficult to keep my distance.

When Elias called us all into the meeting room, I was glad of the distraction. It meant we'd gotten word in about the Federation and that it was time to focus. Focusing on work was good.

'We lured the Federation fleet away.' Elias told us when we were all present. Logan gave a small cheer and punched his knuckles against Ella's. A victory grin brightened both of their features, but they quickly dropped when Elias continued on over the top of them, 'But the factory is still guarded by one ship. A destroyer packed with advanced weaponry.'

'Shit.' Hesh whispered. Then in a louder voice, 'How are we gonna stop that?'

Elias smiled in a way that made him seem glad that somebody had thought to ask, 'It's air defenses prevent an attack from above, but it's vulnerable in one place... Sixty feet below the waterline, near its thermal exhaust port.' He flicked his wrist towards Kick and he nodded, pressing a button on his laptop and pulling up a 3D image of the ship for us all to see.

Hesh whistled long and low, 'That's a big boat.'

'Duh.' Ella said. They glared at each other playfully and only then did I really see how alike they were. She was just female; shorter with longer hair. Maybe it should've put me off, but I blinked and I was back to seeing Ella and Hesh as I always had.

'Keegan, Logan. I'm tasking you with this.' My head snapped round when I heard Elias say my name, 'Clear us a way to that factory.'

'Roger that. We're gonna add one more ship to the graveyard.' I nodded and nudged Logan's arm.

He beamed, 'Fuck, yeah.'

'Hey... Dad?'

'No, Ella.' I grinned when Elias sighed and rolled his eyes down to meet his daughters, 'You're staying here with us. It's dangerous enough sending one of them out, let alone two.'

'Don't worry, baby sister, I'll keep you company!' Hesh hooked an arm round her neck and she grumbled something about him being the worst brother in the world. I smiled and she caught my eye. The pink tinge that stained her cheeks formed a fire in my stomach that threatened to spread out over my entire body. I took a sharp intake of breath and turned back to Logan.

'Should probably catch some sleep, kid.' I slapped his shoulder, 'We're gonna need it.' He agreed, and then we both went to our separate rooms. I was woken again at 7am the next morning by Merrick pounding on the door, telling me to get my ass into gear. I met them all in the cafeteria. All except Ella and Hesh.

'Is she really that depressed about not being able to come?' I asked lightly.

Logan laughed, 'No. She decided to stop being awkward and gross and have a shower.'

'With Hesh?'

'God, no!' Logan laughed even harder, 'He stands outside the door to make sure she gets her privacy.'

Elias confirmed it with a nod, 'He's got a protective streak a mile wide. One time he punched some kid in the face for accidentally knocking Logan off his bike.' A small chorus of chuckles ran round the table.

'Takes after his old man, then.' Merrick said.

'Unlucky for him.' Logan piped up. Elias pushed his face away, but I saw the gleam in his eye. I had a thing for detail. I noticed these kind of things, and right now, I was noticing how much Elias really loved his children. How happy he was that they were here. How relieved he was that he didn't have to lie to them anymore. Would he still be this pleased with his decision to have them join us if he knew how I was feeling about his daughter?

A stab of guilt twisted in my gut and I laid the spoon back down into my half-eaten bowl of cereal, not sure if I would be able to stomach the rest. But when I heard Ella shouting in the hall about how much she hated the showers, my guilt vanished. I would just have to see her bounding through the door and I would be reminded why she was worth it.

But she never appeared. I hated how disappointed I was that I couldn't see her before we left, but I forced myself to laugh and joke with the rest of them to keep my mind off of it. She would still be here when I got back, either way.

I had just finished gearing up and was heading towards the meeting room when I heard her voice again. I paused and turned to see her jogging towards me. Her hair was still wet and the suds she hadn't managed to wash out properly were clearly visible in the strands of ebony. I wanted to run my fingers through it and wipe them away and it irritated me that she made me feel like that.

'What?' I sounded snappier than I was meant to.

Ella twisted her hands together nervously and her gaze dropped, 'Look after Logan out there, okay?'

'Sure.' As much as I would've loved to stick around and talk to her, there was somewhere I needed to be. I tried to get back on track with it, but her hand shot out and she curled her fingers into my vest. My eyebrows shot up at how suddenly she had moved and I looked at her for an explanation.

'Be careful.' There was something about the way she said it; the way her eyes pleaded with me to tell her what she wanted to hear. It made the back of my throat ache and I knew that I couldn't stop what I had to do. The fire in my stomach flared again and I felt weightless when I stepped towards her and gently slid one of my gloved hands over her neck. I used my thumb to tilt her chin up and I made her look straight into my eyes, revelling in the way her breath hitched._ I made her feel like that_.

'I will.' I murmured. Anything to give her precious peace of mind. Her gaze flickered to my mouth and I leaned in to meet her. Our lips had barely even brushed when Logan shouted my name, asking if I was ready to go. Ella jumped away from me and I wanted to growl at being interrupted _again_.

'Just coming!' I shouted back in response. I turned back to Ella and saw her crestfallen expression. She quickly tried to compose herself when she saw I was watching and it made me smile. So just because I was a dick like that, I left her hanging on something I knew would drive her crazy. I winked, 'To be continued.' ******

* * *

Keegan and Logan weren't even gone fifteen minutes and I had started to get worked up. Dad said it was a dangerous mission. What if something happened to them out there? There was absolutely no way we could help them and that made me anxious.

It had been Hesh's unofficial job to keep me preoccupied until they came back, and he managed for about thirty seconds before I gave into the suspense that was gnawing at my gut. I needed to be in the loop at least.

So I ran away from Hesh to the office where Dad was situated with Kick and Merrick. They were monitoring the position of the ship we were after and Kick was sitting with a mic of his own so they could stay connected with Keegan and Logan through their comms. They both twisted in their seats when I entered and I got a stern look from Dad. He opened his mouth and I braced myself for a "Get out of here, Ella", but Keegan's voice crackled through the small speakers and caught his attention.

'Scarecrow, we're seeing a lot of activity down here. They're salvaging parts of the wreckage.' I couldn't help the way my heart skipped when I heard him. Especially because of what had happened before he left. That almost kiss, then three stupid words that held so much promise for what was to come when he got back.

'They might be after weapons and nuclear elements still on-board. We'll call it in. Good work.' Dad leaned over Kick to speak into the mic. He straightened and laid a hand on Merrick's shoulder.

'Get-'

'Already on it.' Merrick smirked bitterly and got to work with informing NORAD of the find. I crossed my arms over my chest and stared intently at the screen. There was the ship, and it was moving. Beyond that, I didn't understand much else that was on there, but there was no time to think about whether or not I should get some proper training in the real technical side of things.

'Scarecrow, this is Six-Two. We're at rally point Bravo. Zero visual on the target.' Keegan said.

'The target is on the move. You boys need to double-time it or you'll miss your shot.' Dad rubbed a hand over the back of his mouth. I wondered how Logan was coping right now upon hearing that. I wondered how he was coping in general, actually. This was the first time he had gone out without Hesh in years.

We must've been on the same wave-length because seconds after I thought it, Hesh was the next to appear at the door, 'How's it going?' He tilted his chin towards the screen. I was going to say "alright", but then Kick cursed quietly and muttered something about sonar pings. He pointed to a few moving squiggles on the screen and lines of worry creased into Dad's brow.

'Scarecrow, we have a visual on the target. Moving to intercept.' Again, my heart jumped when Keegan spoke. God, I wish they were back already.

'We're picking up large sonar blasts in your area. That amount of water pressure could have lethal effects. Keep your bottles up and your heads down. Copy?'

'Dad!' I gasped at the same time Keegan replied with, 'Wilco.'

'They'll be fine, Ella.' Hesh slung his arms round my shoulders and hugged me against him. Dad shot me an apologetic look and I tried to understand. Yes, that was his son out there, but it was his son who was specially trained to get the job done, no matter what. _Ghosts finish the mission._

'But...' My lip quivered. _Lethal effects_. Jesus Christ. They couldn't finish the mission if their organs had been crushed inside of them now, could they?

'Scarecrow, we're tracking the target, but we're unable to engage.' Keegan sounded more out of breath than he should've. Something was wrong. I went to tear myself away from Hesh. He only held me tighter.

'Roger Two-One. Recommend you pull back immediately.' Dad spoke calmly, but his jaw was taut.

'Negative, negative! We'll find another way!'

I bit back a scream, 'Dammit, Keegan!' I gave up fighting against Hesh and turned to stuffing my face into his chest instead. He rubbed my back in a way that was meant to comfort me, but all I could think about was how close we were to losing our brother and Keegan. No, no, I couldn't handle that. They _had_ to be okay.

Hot tears sprang to my eyes and I fought to keep them at bay. I was being ridiculous. There was no reason to be crying. They were just in a little spot of trouble, is all. Nothing had happened to them yet that deserved my tears.

It seemed like forever before we heard Keegan again, but I knew it had only been a couple of minutes. A couple of long, excruciating minutes of wondering whether or not they had made it.

'Scarecrow, this is Six-Two! Target has been neutralized. You're clear for phase two, over!'

'Copy, Six-Two. Sounds like you've caused quite a stir.' Dad was right. In the background of the comms, there was a lot of heavy crashing and thumping. I wrapped my fingers into Hesh's shirt and squeezed my eyes shut, trying my hardest not to picture what those two were going through right now.

'Just make sure to get those birds here. Six-Two out!' It didn't help that Keegan sounded stressed. Like, really stressed. Like, "holy shit, we are so fucked" kind of stressed.

'See? They're fine.' Hesh pushed me back a little so he could smile at me reassuringly. I nodded weakly and pulled him back into a hug. I still wasn't convinced, and I wasn't going to be. Not until they walked in smiling and ready to celebrate our latest victory over the Federation.

* * *

'Elias! It's Logan. He's wounded.' Those were the first words I heard from Keegan when he came back. My brother was conscious, but barely, and blood was seeping from a gash in his side. Splinters of wood were stuck into his arm and Keegan was rattling off something about his oxygen tube becoming detached.

'Merrick! Med kit. Now!' Dad ran to meet them, pushing me out the way. At that precise moment in time, I didn't care. He could've swung a punch and knocked me out just to get me to move and I wouldn't have cared.

I trailed behind them, wanting to get involved and wanting to help, but not wanting to get in their way and piss them off. The last thing they needed while they were fixing up Logan was for me to be making a nuisance of myself.

'Logan!' Hesh charged past me and into the room that was now being used as a make-shift medical bay. He was promptly ordered to get out. He refused at first, but then Dad used his serious voice and Hesh joined me in the hall. He growled and slammed his palm off the wall angrily.

My hands were shaking and my brain was slowly melting under the intensity of the situation, but seeing Hesh lash out helped ground me just enough to do something - _anything_ - to keep me busy.

'Do you want coffee?' I suggested quickly. He glanced up at me and his eyes were simmering with rage at not being allowed in to see his brother. I ran a hand through my hair and took a step back, 'I'll make it. Do you think they want coffee? I should ask them. Wait, no, they'll just shout at me. Fuck it, I'm making coffee.' I bit my tongue and started walking in the general direction of the rec room. I was panicking. I was really panicking. Was Logan alright? How did he get those injuries? What the fuck did Keegan mean about his oxygen tube? Had he almost died out there?

I was with Hesh on this. We should've at least been allowed to see for ourselves that he would pull through this. But for now, I was making coffee for everyone in the team. I'd even set out a mug for Logan, even though he probably wouldn't be drinking it. When they patched him up, he'd get put straight to bed for rest and recovery.

Hesh joined me a few minutes after I sat down with my mug. He picked up a random one from the counter and sat next to me. Neither of us said a word, and neither of us had to. Our long, but comfortable silence was broken by Kick and Merrick.

I tightened my grip on the handle of my mug when I saw the blood on Merrick's hands, 'Is he okay?'

'He's fine.' Merrick nodded and went to clean up, 'Elias and Keegan are just putting him to bed now. It'll take a couple of days for him to heal, but he's honestly fine.' It was the nicest tone he had ever used with me.

Dad and Keegan came in not two minutes after Merrick and Kick got themselves settled. Hesh still hadn't said anything, and I knew he wouldn't. Not until he got in to see Logan. He didn't even stay to hear the end of Keegan's retelling of what had happened. He just finished his drink, got to his feet and left. No need to ask where he was going.

They had taken cover in a lighthouse and when they hit the ship, everything had collapsed, crushing Logan beneath it. When Keegan found him, his oxygen tube was detached and he was drowning and trapped beneath a pile of debris. I wanted to hug him and thank him over and over and over for saving him, but I didn't think that it would be deemed appropriate by everyone else in the room. So I took a page out of Hesh's book and left before I did something stupid.

I ran into him when I reached their room, 'How is he?'

'Sleeping.' He sighed and skimmed a hand over his head, '_Fuck_. He could've died out there, Ella.'

'I know.' I rubbed his arm and leaned against the side of the door, looking in at Logan's sleeping frame, 'We're not getting rid of him that easily though.' I smiled, trying to make light of the situation.

'Yeah, he's stronger than he looks.' Hesh lingered for a few minutes before sighing again, 'I'm just gonna leave him for a few hours. He'll hit me if he wakes up and finds out I've been sitting by his bed all day.'

'Too chick-flick, right?'

'Exactly. If you're sticking around, come and find me if he wakes up.' Hesh touched my back and then disappeared down the hall. I had no doubt that he was away to find something to drink. Strong and alcoholic, most likely. Logan was more than his brother. He was his best friend, and I knew how hard it must be for him to see him like this. He was probably blaming himself, thinking that if he had been out there with him, none of this would have happened.

But Logan was safe now. He was alright, and he would bounce back from this in no time. I stayed at the door, knowing that if I went in, I wouldn't come out until he was awake and ready to fight again. So the longer I stood, the more I relaxed. He was breathing easily and he was sleeping peacefully. He was fine and I had no reason to worry anymore.

A presence to my left made my skin prickle and I turned towards it.

'Hi.' I greeted Keegan softly.

'Hey.' He stopped beside me, 'How are you?'

'Good, I think.' I frowned as I gauged my emotions, 'Could be worse.' _My brother could be dead_. I didn't have to say it for the words to hang heavy in the air between us. He stayed silent and I shifted against the frame of the door, 'Thank you.'

'For what?'

'I dunno. Doing your job, I guess. You saved his life.' I lifted one shoulder in a weak shrug.

'You're welcome then.' He shifted and I tried not to freeze when he moved closer so that he could rest his elbow against the door frame above my head. I felt the heat radiating from his body and it took every ounce of strength I had to keep myself from leaning back into him.

Instead, I cleared my throat and prayed that my voice wouldn't waver, 'I'm glad you're okay too.' I had been too caught up in freaking out about Logan that I hadn't had time to even consider how Keegan was.

'About that...' He reached one of his hands round and my stomach squeezed when he cupped my cheek and turned me to face him, 'Weren't we in the middle of something?' He didn't give me a chance to answer. The first touch of his lips sent a bolt of heat through every nerve in my body, boiling my blood in the best of ways. I kissed him back, wary at first, scared that this was just one big crazy dream and that I was going to be hauled back to reality any second now.

But I never was. He moved his arm from above my head and curled it around my waist, pulling me closer against him. He was _so_ warm and when he ran his tongue along my bottom lip, I tasted hints of the coffee I'd made for him earlier. I laid my hands on his shoulders and stretched up on my tiptoes so I could deepen our kiss. It was perfect and effectively cleared away the last of my worries about what had happened to them on their latest mission.

I never wanted it to end, but all too soon, it did. He stroked my hair back off my face and pressed his forehead against mine.

'I uh... Wow, okay.' I blew out a small, happy sigh through my nose, 'That happened.'

'It did.' He smiled and I tightened my grip on his shoulders when it fell and he eased away slightly, 'This is wrong...' He whispered so quietly that I wasn't even sure if he meant to say it out loud.

'No. Don't you dare.' I shook my head sharply. I _knew_ Keegan was different from those other assholes I'd dated. It was a feeling deep, deep down in my gut. So deep down that I barely even felt it at all. But I knew.

'Listen-' I silenced him with another kiss. It took him a second or two to react, and when he did, he moaned in what I think was frustration and dug his fingers into my sides.

'Oh, to hell with it.' He growled against my lips. In one swift movement, he hoisted me up into his arms and kissed me back with a sudden hunger that took my breath away. The atmosphere around us shifted, coming alive with energy that buzzed full of electricity. It made the hairs on my skin stand on end and I physically felt the desperate want behind the way his lips crushed to mine.

He tore his mouth away for only a few seconds to check that the hallway was still clear and then carried me into my room, kicking the door closed behind him. When he laid me back onto my bed, I was sure that my heart was going to explode right out of my chest. This was really happening, and I'd had absolutely no idea how much I'd _really _needed him until now.

His teeth skimmed my jawline and then he peppered it with kisses, but before he could lower his mouth to my neck, I used the very last of my willpower to reverse our positions and straddle his waist. He looked up at me in mild surprise and I grinned in what I hoped was a devilish way, 'Amazed yet?'

He grinned back and brushed his fingers along my cheek and through my hair, knotting them in at the nape of my neck, 'Not quite. Try harder.' He pulled my face back down to his. And that was when I finally let myself go and let Keegan turn the crappiest morning I'd ever had into the best day of my entire life.


	17. End of the Line

_**Wow! Thank you so much for all your reviews. I definitely wasn't expecting that reaction haha! As a thank you, here's another really long chapter. I was nursing the mother of all hangovers when I wrote it though. I've combed through it, but if there's still any bits that seem a bit "wtf?" then sorry! ... Just blame the alcohol.  
It almost pains me to upload this because we all know what happens next - unless you haven't gotten this far in the campaign - and I'm scared of the feels. I'll be splitting Sin City into 2 parts, -not to be a dick! - just because I think it'll write better that way, and help me get a better grasp on everything that happens *sad face*. But I'm ill and bed-bound for a couple of days, so I have plenty of time to get it perfect for you :) In the meantime, enjoy! x**_

_**(P.S. Thank you to the Guest who pointed me in the direction of Flyleaf!)**_

* * *

_Something you'll never find is a vision of light,_  
_With the voice of the dead,_  
_I'm screaming._

_- This Close (Flyleaf)_

* * *

'You got two contacts approaching low.' My stomach twisted when Keegan warned us of the hostiles. He hadn't really spoken to me since he left my room in a rush. Kick had been looking for him, and we'd heard him banging on his door. In the irrational fear that he would somehow think to find him with me, Keegan had dressed in a hurry and told me he'd see me later.

It was now later and instead of hanging out with him, we were getting ready to storm the Federation factory. We'd arrived in Rio well before we were meant to, but at least it was dark and it had just past 10 o' clock, so it would be easy to sneak our way in.

A flash of lightning overhead had me grinding my teeth and my bones seemed to shudder when a rumble of thunder rolled in after it. Merrick chose that moment to hop down from his position and look towards me. I ignored the sickly feeling of fear in my chest and pushed past a fern leaf, forcing myself to seem calm and unphased by the weather. He poked two fingers towards his eyes, then pointed to the corner of the ridge we were on. I nodded and unsheathed my knife, motioning for him to lead the way.

The heavy pattering of the rain against the foliage disguised our footfall until we were practically right above the two Feds. I rolled onto the balls of my feet and waited on bated breath for Merrick's mark. I jumped down a second after he did, landing awkwardly on the soldier with the flash light. He tried to struggle and roll away from me, but I managed to ram my knife straight into his jugular before he could get very far.

'They're down. We're moving to Entry A.' Merrick said over the comms. I followed behind him wordlessly, secretly enjoying the fact that we were kind of almost getting along. I really didn't want to ruin it now. Logan was meant to be with us, but because of obvious reasons, he was staying with Dad while the rest of us went in to find out exactly what the Federation was hiding in this place.

Merrick saw the lights of the building through the trees before I did, 'Scarecrow, we have eyes on the factory, over.'

'Roger. Make your way into Black Zone.' Dad sounded a little distracted and I wondered briefly if Logan was being awkward and trying to get out of bed again. He had woken up a few hours before we left, and he had been having a right good bitch and moan about how he had to take it easy. I almost felt sorry for Dad having to deal with him when he was in one of his moods.

'Copy that. Approaching entry.' The spotlights of the factory glowed brighter the closer we got and a helicopter flew in over our heads. Merrick crouched to do a quick scan, 'Keegan, we're at Entry A.'

'Check. We're ready at Entry B.'

'Copy. Moving. Regroup fifty metres.' Merrick cast me a quick glance before sliding down the steep hill. We had an unspoken system worked out. He would speak as little as possible, and I would just follow his lead because that's what he expected me to do. I thought I would be good for once and not challenge him on it.

'We see you. Moving to RV.' I was still trying to wipe some of the wet mud from my jacket when Merrick took off again, jogging towards a stationary freight train. I ran over to position myself with him and he held up one of his fists, 'Hold. Tango.' His voice lowered to a whisper when the soldier wandered into view, 'He's yours.'

'Are you sure?' My jaw dropped and he sighed, nudging it back up with his knuckles.

'Yes. Keep it quiet.'

Excitement threatened to make my head spin, but I managed to keep myself securely grounded when I slid out of the shadows. I felt pressure knowing that Merrick was watching and judging, but I channelled it as best as I could. It must've worked because he was down in seconds. It was messier than I had intended it to be and I scrunched up my nose when his blood sprayed across my face.

'Tango down.' I muttered into the comms.

'Let's move! Kick, you'll handle perimeter and security. Nothing and no one gets through.' Merrick ran from his cover, Hesh rolled out from beneath the train, and Kick and Keegan both jumped out from one of the carriages. I smiled when I saw them, glad that we had regrouped. Not that I hated working alone with Merrick. I just felt better when we were all together.

'And no one gets out either.' Kick said.

'Everyone else, we're moving left to infil and then to Black Zone.' Merrick took the lead again and I hesitated for a few moments only to watch Kick scale a pile of crates and vault the chain link fence that they were stacked up against. He made it look effortless and I was temporarily mesmerised.

'Ella!' Hesh hissed. I shook my head sharply and mouthed an apology. We moved through a small side warehouse and found some cover when we spotted three hostiles ahead - four if you're counting the one in the truck that had just pulled up.

'Get a target. Ella, we're on you.' Merrick said. I struggled to contain my surprise. This was too out of character for him. Had I said something to impress him in the space of a few hours? I couldn't remember... 'Take the shot.' He snapped. Nope, it was still the same old Merrick.

I aimed for the nearest one and pulled the trigger. The area was clear in a few heartbeats. Merrick covered right, Keegan got left and Hesh scavenged a security badge from one of the bodies. He used it to open the door to reveal two more tango's. This time, I thought I'd beat Merrick to the punch and plant a bullet into one of their chests before he gave the order. The other one dropped and I glanced over towards Keegan as he lowered his gun. He caught me looking and I dipped my head quickly, trying to control the hot flush I could feel creeping up my neck.

I managed to shake it off when Kick told us that there was no good advantage in our next zone. There were too many hostiles. But as always, Merrick remained collected and told us what to do while Hesh was swiping the security card to get us through another door.

'Multiple targets. Split up. Sweep and clear.' It didn't take us long. I only ran into two guards, and since both of them had their backs to me, it was easy kills. In fact, it was almost too easy. With that thought, my senses jumped up into overdrive and my fingers began to shake when the nerves settled in. What if this had been another set-up? I mean, Hesh was saying earlier that he was worried about how quiet Rorke had been. What if he was here now?

With the top and bottom floor's cleared, we met up again at the bottom by a big heavy looking door. I tilted my head, 'What the hell is so important that they need to hide it behind this?'

'We're away to find out.' Hesh walked over to stand by my side.

'Kick, we've reached the south vault door. It's a big one. Whatever's in there, they want to keep it safe.' Merrick had taken up stance on the left side of the door. Keegan was on the right. I caught his eye again and this time, I made sure I smiled at him. He gave me a quick nod, and that was all I needed to see.

'No camera's in Black Zone. You're on your own inside.' Kick replied, 'Starting override procedure.' Two orange lights flared and a loud annoying buzzer rang through my ears when the door clunked loudly and then slid open.

'Multiple tango's! Go hot!' The four of us split again to find different places to use as cover. I threw myself into the fight, enjoying the sick satisfaction of watching our enemies fall. I never used to be so eager to kill, but over the years, something had changed and warped that part of me that turned away in horror at the thought of spilling another's blood. It probably didn't help that Dad had drummed it into our heads that it was okay to do bad things to bad people.

'No chatter on enemy comms. Sounds like you're still clear.'

'Copy, Kick,' Merrick waved us over to a room that was so white it made my eyes hurt, 'Scarecrow, we're inside the Black Zone. We're seeing what looks like rocket components.' I let my eyes drift over the scribbles and the drawings on the white board, not really taking any of it in. I was just trying to take my mind off of the suspicious cylinders behind us.

'Solid copy. Continue searching.' On Dad's word, we opened the next door and hurried through the tunnelled corridor.

Merrick paused, 'Pressure locked door. This must be it. Kick?'

'Roger.' Kick got it open easily and we all rushed through. Our curiosity was soon sated, but I now wished it wasn't. I actually wished we could all just forget we'd seen anything, and then go home oblivious. I had absolutely no idea what it was we were staring at, but everything in me was screaming to run from it. Whatever it was, it was really bad.

'Shit.' Hesh whispered, eyes wide.

'Looks like some kind of satellite.' Keegan's voice was soft with wonder and I managed to tear my eyes away from the satellite thing so I could look over at him instead. He took two slow steps and stopped next to me. His arm brushed mine and I smiled. It widened when his eyes crinkled, just enough to let me know that he was smiling back. It was nice to know that things weren't weird between us, or that he didn't seem to regret what had happened.

'With a hell of a weapons package.' Merrick braced one hand against the railing, straining his neck to try and see the top of the satellite-weapon, 'Scarecrow, we found it. It looks like space-based weaponry.'

'Copy, Actual. Pipe a feed for identification.' Dad snapped us out of our trance and we thundered down the metal stairs, making a surprising racket as we went.

'Ella, get your eyes patched in. Hesh, you too. Keegan, get the main heat shield open.' I fumbled for the camera, cursing to myself when I almost dropped it twice in my haste to show Dad what we had found.

He was quiet for a few moments, then, 'It's a kinetic rod delivery system.'

'Like the ones that took out San Diego.' Hesh said. A chill settled itself into my gut and I shivered. _Well, fuck_.

'Yeah. These are smaller, but there's a lot more of them. Definitely based on our ODIN design.' Dad sighed, 'We need to find out how many they've built. Good work. This was a good find.'

I took that as my sign to slide the camera back into one of my pockets. The other three were all just looking at each other, nodding slightly as if they were congratulating themselves. But then we heard Dad start to arrange coordinates for an air strike over the factory. It was all the push we needed to pick up our speed in getting out of here.

'Merrick, find any data that can give us a bigger picture of their progress, then get out of there. You have an entire air wing en route to level the whole complex.' That was just so typically _Dad_. He had so much faith in his team's abilities that he set the place up to get decimated while we were still inside. I wondered how Logan was reacting to that. If he was being kept in the loop about this, would he be chewing Dad out for giving out those coordinates so early? I would be.

Hesh opened the next door and Merrick nodded, 'Copy that. Kick, you got that? Arclight's en route. This entire factory is going to disappear very soon.'

'Copy.' We went down another flight of stairs and into a room where three computers sat on the desk. My heart sank. I knew what we were gonna be doing, I just wasn't confident about it. The technical stuff was all Hesh's area of expertise, not mine. Knowing my luck, I would somehow manage to short-circuit all three computers and lose every piece of data on them.

'Satellite is labelled as 24. How many are there?' I plugged in my own device to the computer on the right and watched Hesh's screen instead of mine. He knew what he was talking about, maybe I could learn something, 'There's encrypted data here. Appear to be launch events, dates, predictions... I don't understand. Have they launched these?'

Suddenly the image on my computer screen switched to what looked like feed from a security camera. I frowned and then heard Kick hissing through the comms that we had to grab the data and get out of here now. My frown deepened at his words, then my screen glitched out and the computer sparked. I took a wary step back and with a faint _pop_, the power disappeared. The screens went blank and the room turned dark and for one insane second, I thought I really had managed to fuck it all up. But then the door and half of the wall exploded, sending us flying back in a shower of debris.

There was a sharp stinging pain at my left eye and I tried to blink it away, but I couldn't even open it. Through the blurry vision of my right eye, I saw the shadow of three Feds stepping over the remainder of the wall. I lifted my gun and started to shoot, but I knew I wouldn't be on point. Bullets sprayed and with a lurching sense of panic, I thought about what would happen if I hadn't hit any of my targets. I hadn't been shot yet, so I settled myself with that.

I heard Merrick barking out orders. He was okay. I saw Keegan reloading. He was okay. Hesh? There was a loud, angry curse from my left and I stiffly turned my neck to see Hesh still standing. He was okay.

'Scarecrow, we're pinned! Can we get a hold on Arclight?' Merrick asked over his comm.

'Negative. Arclight is 20 klicks out and past PNR. Genesis cannot be diverted.'

'Shit!' Hesh shouted, 'We do _not_ wanna be here!' _My thoughts exactly, brother_. In that moment, I really hated our father. He had sounded so matter-of-fact and nonchalant about what we were having to deal with and I hated him for it. I knew that when we got out of here, he would be relieved beyond words to see us and I knew I would understand his professionalism, but I didn't care about any of that right now.

'We've got more incoming!' Keegan yelled.

'Okay, we blind them and move. Ready smoke!' Merrick said. A whimper bubbled up my throat and past my lips. I still couldn't see from my left eye, and it was putting me at a big disadvantage for pushing through their lines. I readied a smoke grenade anyway. I didn't want to lag behind, and I knew we couldn't slow down. I just had to suck it up, be a big girl and get on with it. Or, you know, I would die trying.

Merrick told us to change to thermals and I pulled in a lungful of clean air before snapping the visor into place. I stumbled instantly and aimed in the general direction of anything that glowed red. I growled and whipped out a grenade, throwing it forward towards a gaggle of them further down the lab.

'Keep pushing forward!' Merrick spurred us on and I huffed. I went to reflexively step behind some cover and reload, but smashed my knee against the base of some fancy technical equipment that was now sparking and releasing small puffs of smoke.

'Fuck!' I slapped the machine as if it were it's fault that all this had happened.

'Ella, what the hell are you doing?' A hand wrapped around the top of my arm and yanked me round, 'Shit, are you bleeding?'

'Yes.' I pulled myself out of Keegan's grip and leaned out to shoot one of the advancing red figures. He didn't drop and I curled my lips back to bare my teeth in sheer frustration, 'I can't fucking see!'

'Can you see me?'

'Yes.' _Only because you're standing right there, duh_.

'Okay, then stay close. We have to move.' He jerked his head and I reluctantly stuck with him. I didn't want to be this dependant. If only we had a bit more time so that one of them could tell me what the fuck had happened to my face. I could only hope that it would clear itself up in the next couple of minutes.

A flash went off as we were nearing the top of the lab and our thermals fried instantly. I fell back against a technical station and slumped down to safety. I yanked the visor off and threw it away, still seeing fuzzy lines and double figures from the effects.

'Don't stop. We have the advantage!' Merrick roared at us. I ground my teeth and fought back the urge to scream at him; to scream at everyone and anything. I fucking _knew_ this had all been too easy. Why hadn't we thought about this possibility?

I threw out a flashbang to help the other three take down the remaining hostiles blocking our way to the stairs, and I felt good about it when Merrick told us we were clear to move up. I didn't feel so good when I tripped at the top having convinced myself there was an extra step though.

Keegan grabbed the back of my vest and hauled me back to my feet, not letting go until I was steady, 'You good?'

'Brilliant, thanks.' I injected an extra dose of sarcasm into my tone. The sirens blaring out over the base were thumping into my skull, louder and more piercing with every fresh round, and I was getting increasingly irritated. I would feel bad about it later, I was sure, but that was the least of my worries right now.

'Merrick, I'm securing transport, but you've got a full house on the rooftop ahead of you.' It was a relief to hear Kick's voice again. If only he had checked in with better news.

The remaining hallway was empty, but now we knew what was waiting for us outside. One last obstacle and then we were home free. The thought gave me a tiny, fleeting piece of motivation and I used it to try and blink again. My eye felt sore and swollen, but I managed to open it a crack; just enough to see clearer.

'Okay, we're moving on three.' Merrick and Hesh were first to the fire exit door. Keegan had pulled me away from the line of fire, making me crouch behind a couple of storage crates. He had given me a funny look, and it had made me wonder how bad the injury round my eye was, 'One, two, three!' They used their combined strength to push the door open with their shoulders and I instantly understood why I was safer where I was. As much as I wanted to hunker down and stay put until they'd cleared the roof and Kick was ready with our ride out of here, I wasn't going to be _that_ person. Impaired or not, I was going to help.

Hesh and Merrick seemed to have the roof itself held down, but I saw Keegan on the catwalks above and I ran to get up there as quickly as I could to help him out.

'What are you doing?' He asked. He pushed me back behind cover and gunned down two of the tango's coming towards him.

'What does it look like, idiot?' I held up my gun, and then adjusted my grip on it properly.

'Your face-'

'Will be fine. Now come on!' I tried to say it with authority, but I wasn't sure if it came out that way. I could've just sounded like a whiny bitch, but his eyebrows raised and he actually did what I said, so I must've done something right. We moved in silence and I felt for any sign of awkward tension between us, but I came up blank. Despite the circumstances, I almost smiled.

About four or five enemy trucks pulled up in the spot where we were meant to be meeting Kick, and all we could do was keep behind cover and pray that we didn't run out of ammo before he showed up.

Seconds after Hesh mentioned that Arclight was starting, Kick seemed to burst out of nowhere, smashing through the empty Fed trucks in one of his own.

'Get on the trailer! Go, go, go!' Worry spiked at me when I was the last one to jump to my feet, and there was a voice in the back of my mind telling me that they were going to leave me behind. Kick started to drive when they hopped on and I held my breath when I pushed myself off the ground and leaped forward. I was sure I wasn't going to make it, but Merrick's hand shot out and he caught me by the scruff of the neck, hauling me in quickly and all but throwing me away again.

I could've just lay where I had crumpled, but we weren't safe yet. The Federation soldiers were still hell-bent on making sure we didn't get out of here alive, and even when the factory started to come down around them, they didn't stop. They tore after us in their trucks, trying to shoot out our tires and maybe even get a lucky shot on one of us while they were at it.

Every time Kick jerked us round a corner, my stomach dropped lower and lower and I had a vision of one of us falling off the trailer. It made me grip the side tighter and dig my heels into the wood. We could've tried to shoot at the oncoming Fed trucks, but with the erratic driving on both of our sides, it could've ended horribly, and besides, Arclight was doing a pretty good job at taking care of them for us anyway.

We saw one more final explosion and then we whipped through the gates.

'Clear!' Kick confirmed. I collapsed down onto my back and let my breath out in a shaky sigh.

'Nice driving, Kick!' Keegan said. I glanced up at him when he fell back and pulled his mask down. He looked as relieved as I felt that we were out of there.

'We destroyed number 24, but where are the other 23?' Hesh had to ruin the moment of peace by reminding us of what we had found in there.

'Well there ain't gonna be a 25th.' Merrick leaned against the side of the trailer and yanked at his own mask too, 'JSOC will give us our next steps. Time to head home, boys.' I cleared my throat and stretched my foot out to nudge his leg. He jumped and looked over, 'You'll need to get that cleaned up.' He motioned towards my eye, not realising why I had nudged him in the first place.

I let my head flop down and sighed. I'd decided years and years ago that I _liked_ being one of the boys, so it honestly hadn't bothered me. I'd just been trying to get a rise from him.

* * *

We were back at a friendly base, but it was only to get a couple of hours sleep. We were heading out to Vegas in the early hours of the morning to secure the safe house there, and we would need our energy. While Merrick cleaned up my wound, I spoke to him about how excited I was that we were going be based in Sin City of all places for a while. Logan and Hesh had always promised me that they would take me there on holiday for my 21st, but of course, that was another plan that went down the drain on the day the Federation broke the truce.

'It's nothing special, kid.' Merrick said, 'Well, not anymore.'

'Ruined or not, it's still somewhere I've been dying to go since I was thirteen.' I shrugged and swung my legs. I was sat on top of the table in the briefing room. Dad had said we were cool to stitch me up in here since it wasn't too much of a mess, and he wanted to run over a few things with us all before we crashed anyway.

'Just don't get your hopes up for pretty lights and roulette wheels.' Merrick leaned back a bit to inspect his work and then nodded to himself, 'I think that's it. You're good to go.'

'Thanks.' I stayed where I was, continuing to swing my legs. He'd thought that maybe I'd gotten something stuck in my eye when all the blood was washed off, but it had just been a very nasty cut that would probably leave a scar.

I was thinking of something to say when we heard Hesh and Logan coming down the hall. They were singing "Viva Las Vegas" loudly and it made me grin.

'Looks like I'm not the only one still excited about this.' I stuck my tongue out at Merrick and he rolled his eyes, glancing behind him to see the two dancing in. Well, Hesh was doing most of the dancing. Logan was still a bit sore.

'I'm sure you all forget how old you are sometimes.' Merrick muttered while he packed up the med kit.

'You're just too serious _all_ the time. You should really start taking a page out of Kick's book.' There was a defensive edge to my tone that I didn't mean, but I didn't apologise. We all deserved times where we could be a little childish. Growing up would just be awful otherwise.

Logan sat up onto the table next to me and Hesh pulled up a seat so he could lean against out brother's knees. They'd just gotten comfortable when Dad, Kick and Keegan breezed in. The atmosphere in the room changed instantly and a small frown knit my brows together.

'Our worst fears are confirmed.' Dad started speaking before he even looked up at anybody. I shifted slightly so I could see him better. His shoulders were straight and tight and he kept clenching and unclenching one of his fists. Shit... This couldn't be good, 'The Federation has reverse-engineered a space weapons system from the wreckage of ODIN.'

Silence rang out and nobody knew what to say. Hesh flicked his gaze up to meet mine and Logan's then he leaned forward a little, hesitating as he picked his words, '... How long until it's operational?'

'Unclear. The data you recovered has been sent on to NORAD. SecDef wants the debrief in person.' Dad let his eyes scan the room before he went back to studying the veins bulging from the back of his hand. I felt myself sag a little. Did that mean we were taking a detour before Vegas? Logan huffed quietly next to me and I could tell he wanted to ask the same thing, but Dad was anxious, and if we asked any stupid questions, he could get snappy. Neither of us wanted that.

'Keegan, I'm sending you to Colorado Springs.' Dad said next, moving his head as an indication.

'You got it.' Keegan gave a small nod and it was my turn to curl my hands into fists. We were still going. _He wasn't_.

'We'll rendezvous at the Vegas safe house tomorrow at twelve hundred hours.' Dad clapped his shoulder. I swallowed down the notion to sigh in relief. But I was so busy trying to figure out why I was so worked up that he was leaving that I almost didn't hear Dad tell him he would have to go now to get there and back in time.

'The man needs his sleep, Dad.' I tried to sound indifferent about it when they moved.

'He can sleep on the chopper.' _Dammit!_

Despite the mood he was in, I slid off the table to follow him and Keegan out. I even helped them get everything sorted and ready. I should've left after that. I should've just gone and found my brothers and spoke about how awesome it was that we were gonna be living in Vegas, but I couldn't help myself from walking them right out to where a helo was already waiting.

'Good luck. We'll see you tomorrow.' Dad ushered him onto the chopper and I bounced forward. My _God_, I wanted to get on that chopper with him. But I couldn't, so I had to say goodbye. But I couldn't say it in the way I wanted to because of my Dad and shit, this wasn't going well.

'Bye, Keegan.' I forced myself to smile, but when I looked into those deep blue eyes, it wavered and I had to curl my arms around myself before I threw myself in there to hug him instead.

'Bye, Ella.' His lips lifted and I would give anything to be able to kiss him right now. I just stared at him until I felt Dad's hands on my shoulders, pulling me away from the helo so it had room to take off.

I watched it lift into the air and squinted after it until I couldn't see it's lights anymore. Unexpected tears filled my eyes and I slapped myself mentally. I was acting like one of those love-sick teenagers you see on the TV, and I wanted to scream until I had snapped myself out of it. I never had been this kind of girl, but there was a heavy feeling in my chest now that Keegan's presence was missing from the team. I _hated_ it.

Dad stood with me, just watching me watch the sky. I wondered what was going through his mind and was going to ask him what he was still doing here, but then he rubbed my arms, 'It's not like he'll be gone forever, Ella.'

I didn't question why he would say something like that. I didn't question why he knew I was pining. I didn't even try to deny his implication. Because of course he knew there was something going on. He was my Dad, and we had always been a close family. It was like the time he knew that Hesh and Logan had been hooking up with those two girls from the town we were based in before Santa Monica. As our one and only parent, it was his job to know his kids inside out.

I turned in his arms and buried my face into his chest so I didn't have to look at him when I said what I had been thinking for the past fifteen minutes or so. I took a deep breath, 'I'm just gonna miss him, that's all.'

'I know. But in the meantime, you should probably catch some sleep. We'll be leaving in a few hours ourselves.'

'Yeah.' I took another breath and pulled away from him.

'Come on, then.' He kept an arm round my shoulder and I gladly allowed him to keep me pressed against his side as we walked into base. We didn't get much Daddy-Daughter moments anymore, and it was really nice when we did. So when he kissed my forehead goodnight and told me that he'd get me up when it was time to leave, I crawled into bed and made a promise to myself that I would start spending more time with him once we were settled in Vegas.


	18. Sin City 1

**_Oh god... I don't think there's anything more nerve-wracking than writing key missions haha! But this is part one, and I'll try have part two up tonight or tomorrow if I can. I so hope I managed to do this justice, and as always.. Enjoy! x_  
**

**_(P.S. Thanks to Nina for the song suggestion!)_**

**_(P.S.S. _****_If you haven't reached this far in the campaign yet or you haven't even played it, then I highly recommend you stop reading now, because there are huuuuge spoilers from here on out.)_**

* * *

_Foolish lies of growing old,_  
_It seems we're so invincible,_  
_The truth is so cold._

_- So Far Away (Avenged Sevenfold)_

* * *

I'd been groggy when Dad woke me up to get ready, and I'd been sluggish in sorting out my gear, and I'd been latchy in meeting them on the tarmac. But the minute I saw the excited faces of my brothers in the chopper, I perked up.

'Ella!' Hesh waved at me to hurry myself along. I stifled a sigh and pushed myself into a brisk jog.

'Cheer up, baby sister! We're going to _Vegas_!' Logan clapped my back three times when I hauled myself in and a smile tugged at my lips at the mere mention of it. He pointed at my face, 'There's the excitement we're looking for!' I buckled myself up and closed my eyes for a fraction of a second to try and rid my mind of the beautiful image of a big, steaming hot mug of coffee. When I was convinced I would survive without it, I reopened my eyes and threw myself into the conversation about what we were going to do first once we had secured the safe house. By the time we were joined by Dad, Riley, Merrick and Kick, all traces of sleep were gone from my brain and I was nearly bouncing in my seat with excitement.

'Safe travels.' My head snapped round to Kick and saw that he wasn't boarding with the other two.

'You're not coming?'

'I have some things to take care of first.' He lifted his faded baseball cap to run a hand through his hair before jamming it back into place, 'Enjoy Vegas, and don't get too drunk until I'm back!' He directed his playfully stern glare towards my brothers.

'That is a promise we just won't be able to keep, I'm afraid.' Hesh laughed and patted his shoulder.

'You better not be away too long.' I strained against the safety belt so that I could loop my arms round his neck in a hug, 'Merrick's boring and he likes to keep Dad and Keegan on a leash so that they're boring too.' Dad chuckled, but Merrick growled a string of insults, which only made him laugh harder.

'Well you tell Keegan that if he doesn't step up and be the fun one, then I'll kick his ass when I see him again.' Kick rubbed my back once then stepped away and raised his hand in a salute, 'So long, soldiers! Until the next time.'

'Bye, Kick!' We chorused. I felt sad knowing that he wasn't gonna be joining us again for goodness knows how long, but the excitement that buzzed through me when our helo took off was quick to overshadow it.

Hesh, Logan and I chattered nonsense for the entire journey, much to the disapproval of Merrick who just wanted to push in a few more hours of sleep. Dad stayed quiet and listened contentedly to our string of conversation. I asked him a couple of times if he was alright, and he would just nod and come away with a one-liner which would start us off on another tangent.

It was an animated flight in general, but once we saw the tip of the pyramid shaped hotel that we were to be calling our new home, the words died on our tongues and the three of us leaned closer to the window for a better look. The rising sun did wonders to compliment the entire city, casting shadows and highlights in all the right places. It looked nothing like it had back in it's prime, but if you could see past the rubble and the debris and the rusted cars in the streets, then it was still gorgeous, none the less.

I couldn't speak for the guys, but the closer we got to the hotel, the more emotional I began to feel. I thought of the first time we had ever made plans to come here, and of the times where we would torture ourselves by looking up pictures of the landmarks and watching movies based in the city. I thought about the calender I bought one year so that I could start counting down the days until I was 21, and how Dad humoured us by looking up hotels and plane tickets, then telling us to start saving.

Now we were finally here and I knew that even though it was nothing like we had ever imagined it to be, we were still going to make the absolute most of it. The circumstances could've definitely been better, but for now, I could swear I was the happiest girl on the entire planet.

* * *

My inner thirteen year old had made an appearance once we were in the hotel and I was now skipping circles round my Dad as he tried to get our weapons sorted. There were some stray Feds downstairs, and it was our job to get rid of them so we could start building this place up to be a proper base.

'Calm down, Ella. It's not that exciting.' He pushed me away, but I came bouncing back with an even bigger grin spread over my face, 'And stop your jumping around. You'll need your energy.'

'But it _is_ exciting, Dad!' I exclaimed, 'I have plenty of energy, too. I'm not even tired.'

'Yet.' He raised an eyebrow.

I paused in my skipping and moved my head left to right, 'No. You're not getting to be a buzzkill here.' I jumped up onto his back. None of us were wearing any protective gear as it was apparently unnecessary for the task at hand, so it was easy enough for me to hug my arms round his neck, 'We're going to clear the casino, Keegan's gonna come back, then me, Hesh and Logan are gonna party like this place hasn't been wasted.'

'Got it all planned out, huh?' He patted my arm, a subtle signal that it was time for me to get down. I slid back onto my feet and he handed me a gun.

'Sure do! I'm telling you, Dad, I have a really good feeling about this place.'

'Ella, you've said that about every base we've ever been to.'

'Yeah, but I mean it this time!' I laughed and punched his arm lightly, 'And I was right about Santa Monica, wasn't I? We had a pretty good run there.' My heart jumped at the thought of being able to rebuild this hotel into the perfect sanctuary, just like we had there. Was that the plan? Oh, I hoped it was. _Fort Las Vegas_. It had a nice ring to it, and as all the possibilities flooded my head, I started bouncing again, not being able to stand still.

We were interrupted by Merrick and my brothers. They were walking towards us with Riley, but Merrick looked a bit on the grumpy side. That was nothing new, but I didn't want anybody to be sad today.

'Merrick!' I bounded towards him and threw one of my arms round his waist. I held my gun in my other hand, pointing it towards the window where we got a sprawling view of the city, 'Isn't it beautiful? Isn't it everything you've ever dreamed of and more?'

'Elias? Permission to strangle your daughter, please.' He said. I laughed and jumped away from him. I was just so happy, and I wanted everyone else to feel the same, 'Touch me again and you'll sure know about it, kid.'

'Just spreading the love.' I inhaled deeply while those three collected their own weapons. I exhaled and tapped Riley affectionately on the nose before we started to move.

'We should've come here years ago, you know that?' Logan said. He was grinning ear to ear and it was good to see that I wasn't the only one who was ridiculously giddy about this.

'I know, right?' I squealed. Hesh was walking in front us, choosing to act like the high and mighty soldier he was meant to be instead of letting himself go. It didn't bother me, and it didn't bother Logan. We were used to it; it was just the way he was.

'We've got six hours til Keegan gets back.' Dad raised his voice a little so that we could hear him from where we were lagging behind. Colour rushed to my face when I thought about getting to see him again. It felt like days since we'd last spoken, but in truth, he hadn't even been gone 12 hours.

'I wonder what he'll do when we tell him what Kick said.' Logan wondered out loud.

'Take the damn warning, hopefully.' I snickered, 'But knowing Keegan-'

'Hold up.' Merrick pulled himself up short and spun in a slow circle, 'Something feel off to you?'

Dad had been walking casually and, like the rest of us, he had been relaxed and calm about our morning plans. Now he was on edge and his lips were pulled into a tight line. He jogged over to the computers on the right and frowned. He glanced up at Hesh, who was double-checking the equipment, and scratched his cheek in confusion.

'Security's working.'

'It's just your imagination, Merrick.' I teased.

'Yeah nothing's-' Before Logan could finish, Riley started barking angrily. His ears were pressed flat back against his skull and he was faced in the direction of the railing. Logan and I shared a look and a chill crept across my skin. If Riley was getting agitated, then something really was off.

Merrick checked over his shoulder with Elias before walking towards the railing to see if there was anybody on the floor below us. He hadn't even gotten to the edge when three lines of faint green smoke sailed into the air before landing among us.

'Get out!' Dad roared. I tried. I really tried. But instead of reacting quickly and holding my breath and covering my nose, I had frozen in place and gasped, effectively filling my lungs with the sedative. I was already on my knees, choking against the gas when he told Riley to hide. Merrick and Logan dropped next to me and the pull of unconsciousness was starting to tug my eyes closed. _It had all happened so fast..._

* * *

Light was beaming down onto my face and warming my cheeks. My eyes twitched beneath the lids, trying to move away from the brightness. I was too tired to care much. It was probably just one of my idiot brothers thinking they were funny by sneaking into my room to yank the curtains open and let the morning sunshine haul me away from my dreams.

'Ella?' Someone said my name. I was _too tired_ to make it out clearly, 'Ella, can you hear me?' Wait... Dad. It was Dad. Another voice joined his. Deeper, more rough. I couldn't place that one either, but I did wonder why Dad had taken a stranger into my room. I couldn't care... _Too tired... _What had I been doing that had made me so damn tired?

'Ella!' Dad's voice was more urgent now. I groaned internally. I didn't have have anything to do with whatever it was those idiots had done this time. Why was he bothering me? 'Ella!' _Ugh_. I forced my eyes open, if only to tell him to leave me alone to sleep for a few more hours.

My vision was bleary at first, and I had to blink a few times to adjust my sight. A jolt of shock hit my chest when I realised that I wasn't in my bed. I was slumped on a wooden chair and my hands were bound tightly behind my back. Hesh and Logan weren't laughing about how they had managed to wake me. They were sitting on two chairs either side of me, heads lolling down onto their chests, also incapacitated. Dad wasn't trying to tell me about something stupid those two had done. He was sitting opposite us in a wooden chair of his own in the exact same predicament as us. And it hadn't been a stranger that was talking with him.

'Rorke?' My voice sounded heavy and slow.

'The one and only, sweetheart.' He bent in front of me and he was temporarily a silhouette against the sun streaming in through the window. I squinted and blinked again. He was close enough so that I could see the thick mess of a scar that sliced over his left eye. It reminded me of my own, and he was quick to pick up on it, 'Pretty little cut you got there. It was my men who did that, right? It suits you.' He reached his hand up to my face and I jerked my head away in a motion so quick that I almost snapped my own neck.

'Don't you _dare _touch her!' The anger behind Dad's tone was enough to make my bones quake, even though I knew it wasn't directed at me. Rorke stood to his full height and merely laughed. He walked behind me and clapped his hands down heavily on my shoulders. I jumped and bit back the urge to whimper like a scared little puppy. I didn't know what was going on, but I knew that I couldn't afford to be the weak link.

'You're in no position to be telling me what to do, Elias.' Rorke's fingers dug into my skin, 'I remember a time when you were more than happy to have me around your kids. I was even one of the first ones to hold your little girl when she was first born.' His grip tightened to the point where I yelped in pain and reflexively tried to jerk away.

'What the hell is wrong with you?' Dad's face was burning with rage and I tried to catch his eye, but he was more focused on his old Captain, who's attention was now turned towards Hesh. He was beginning to stir and his head lifted weakly. His blue eyes raised to mine and I forced a wobbly smile.

'Hey, brother.'

'Hi...' His eyes carried on up into the face of Rorke. His lips peeled back and he spat out a curse through his teeth. He went to lunge forward, but stopped when he realised the restricted movement in his arms. Hesh closed his eyes and exhaled slowly through his nose, 'Son of a bitch.'

'Ah... David... You remind me of your old man, you know that?' Rorke walked slowly and the way his boots clunked against the wooden flooring sent a sliver of fear shooting up my spine. He stopped in front of Hesh and his hand shot out to grip his collar bone. The fear was briefly replaced with a flash of anger and I ground my teeth together, just waiting. Rorke leaned in closer to Hesh and his eyes narrowed, 'And that's not a good thing.' He stepped back and slammed a fist into the side of his face.

'Hey!' The word was ripped from me in an angry snarl before I could stop it. He had physically hurt my brother, and that didn't go down well with me at all, 'Leave him-' He smacked the rest of the sentence from my mouth. I didn't feel the stinging on my cheek until I had cleared my head of the general dizziness.

'Try that again, you piece of shit! I'll rip your _fucking _throat out!' Hesh was seething, and I went to shoot him a reassuring smile to let him know I was alright, but Logan was waking up, and Rorke had moved on to him.

He grasped a handful of his hair and yanked his head back, snapping him out of the last stages of his drug-induced haze, 'Ah, you're awake. Good.' He let go and pushed him away roughly, almost knocking him out of his seat. Logan looked up with confusion evident on his features. Like I'd done for Hesh, I tried to force another smile and reassure him with my eyes that we were okay.

'Nice to have the family back together, isn't it?' Rorke stepped forward until he was in front of Dad again and threw his hands out towards us all. There was a twisted smile on his face that was small and bitter and made me feel sick to the fucking core.

Nobody answered him, even when he looked at us in turn to give us the chance to. A small sigh escaped through his nose and he carried on regardless, 'We're just missing our quiet friend...' He moved closer to Dad and bent down to his level, bracing his hands on his knees and staring him square in the eyes, 'Where's Keegan?'

I didn't mean for my breath to hitch as audibly as it did. It was just the sudden rush of _everything _that hit me when he said his name. His face, his smile, and the way his mouth moved when he said my name; His voice, his laugh and the soft tone he would take on when it was only me and him. It seemed like every nerve in my body was aching for him in that exact moment and the harsh and sudden longing almost rendered me breathless.

But he was _safe_. Wherever he was, he was safe. And I'll be damned if anybody in here would ruin that for him.

I thought my reaction had gone unnoticed, but Hesh and Logan both moved their heads to look at me. I didn't have the guts to face them. Instead, I watched the way Rorke's eyes twitched in my direction and readied myself for whatever he had to say.

Before he could even so much as move as a finger, Dad curled his lips up into a disgusted sneer, 'You know I'm not telling you a damn thing.'

'No?' Rorke straightened and feigned shock, 'Well let's see if I can change your mind.' He lifted his pistol from the holster strapped to his thigh and pointed it towards Logan's stomach.

'Rorke, no!' I screamed over the sound of the shot. I squeezed my eyes shut and flinched away for a second, but then my own stomach twisted itself into a big angry ball of hate and I could've sworn I felt the blood run hotter in my veins as anger began to simmer inside of me.

'Son of a bitch! I'm gonna kill you!' Hesh threw himself against his restraints.

Rorke just smirked, 'Easy, junior! I ain't even started with you yet.' I resisted the urge to bare my teeth and hiss and spit and curse alongside my brother. Logan groaned in pain and my heart seemed to stop beating for a second. We almost lost him not even a week ago. If he died here today under Rorke's hand, I would join Hesh in ripping his throat out.

'Logan! Look at me! Look at me, son!' Dad's voice cracked, and I saw the way his frame shook as he tried to keep himself composed - for our sake, probably.

'That's right... You look at him. That's it. Show him how much pain he's causing you.' Rorke crouched down behind our Dad and kept his face at the same level. He looked so fucking proud of himself and I could've lunged for him _right now_... I clenched my hands into fists. The feeling of my nails biting into the palm of my hand helped me stay grounded. Now was not the time to fly off the handle and do something stupid.

'Funny thing about your old man,' Rorke thumped his hand roughly against Dad's thigh and stood up to his full height again, 'He lets his men die to save his own ass.'

'Don't listen to him, Logan. Please, _please_ don't listen to him.' I muttered. He replied with short, shallow gasps, not being able to form a coherent sentence.

'Dammit, Rorke!' Dad's growl ascended into a shout, 'This is between you and me. Leave my kids out of it!'

'You're talking to a superior, Lieutenant. Show some discipline.' Rorke mocked him in a taunting way, one that would raise any soldier's hackles. And I saw it in Dad's eyes that he had already bitten the bait.

'You were never one of us. You're not a Ghost!'

Rorke rolled his head round to smirk at me, Hesh and Logan, 'Well that's just cause I'm better than you.' Then the smile hardened on his face and he swung himself round, throwing his entire weight into the blow he delivered to our Dad's face, 'I've always been better than _you_! But you... You call yourself a Ghost?' His next two punches seemed to be more for emphasis than anything else, but it made me cringe either way. I just couldn't stand seeing Dad get hurt like this. He had always been big enough to shoo away the monsters in my closet when I was 7 and scared of the dark. He had always been intimidating enough to ward off any asshole guys from school when I was 15 and starting to grow. He had always been tough enough to keep the weight of the world from my shoulders when I was 22 and first started getting my proper duties as a soldier. To see him get beaten down by someone like this was just too much.

'You're nothing! You and your kids... You're dead. Your name dies with you.' Rorke seemed to be having trouble controlling himself and I knew I should've been terrified for my life. I should've been quivering and crying and begging him to let us go - and by God, I wanted to -, but I felt... Calm. But it was an uneasy calm. Like that feeling you got when you stood outside right before a massive storm hit.

When Logan lunged forward from his seat, that was when the metaphorical lightning flashed in my head. I actually blinked against it before I realised that my idiot brother was bleeding all over the fucking floor. He was trying to wrestle the gun from Rorke's hand, and failing quite miserably.

'He's still got a little life left in him! Didn't _he_ ever tell you not to aim guns at people?' Logan was still too weak, making it almost too easy for Rorke to continue pointing his gun at our Dad's chest, 'They could go off.' A shot went off and a spray of blood flew from Dad's ribs.

'_No_!' I struggled against my own binds, grunting when they rubbed harshly against my wrists. How the hell did Logan get out of his?

Another shot fired and my head snapped up again. More blood splattered onto the floor and a frantic feeling of desperation began to claw it's way up my throat. A thousand hysterical words threatened to spill from my mouth, which had now gone incredibly dry.

'Dammit, Rorke! Stop!' Hesh yelled. Like me, he was trying to tear at the ropes, but he was having no such luck either.

Logan cried out in agony and his legs finally buckled under his own weight. Rorke refused to let him drop until he had made him shoot his own father at least one more time, then smashed him round the head with the butt of his gun, forcing him to the ground properly. He just lay there, unmoving, and for one heart stopping moment, I thought he was dead, but then I saw him blink.

'Logan! Logan!' Hesh hadn't seen it.

'He's fine.' I hissed. His face continued to scrunch in frustration and I let my leg fly out and hit the side of his chair to get his attention, 'I _said _he's fine!' He stopped struggling, but his lips continued to tremble, but I couldn't exactly blame him for that.

'You got fire in you, kid. I like that.' Rorke motioned his gun towards Logan and laughed once. He seemed out of breath, but extremely pleased about it, like he had just finished a killer workout at the gym and was still able to walk home afterwards, 'Risking your life to protect your Captain. You could learn something from him, Elias.'

'He's my son.' Dad shook his head slightly, weak from his injuries.

'Yeah... And he's gonna get to watch you die.' Rorke paused for a few seconds and then shot him three more times in the exact same spot on his chest.

'No! No! _Dad_!' I didn't try to reassure Hesh this time. Not when my own mind was reeling itself into a state of panic too. It was a certainty. Rorke was going to kill our father and he was going to make us all watch. He had now thrown him down next to Logan and my gorge rose when I saw the amount of blood that was already pooling around them. I watched Dad's lips move as he spoke soft words to my brother, but I couldn't hear what they were over the death threats Hesh was screaming at Rorke.

'I'll kill you, you hear me? I'll kill you, you son of a bitch! I'm gonna kill you! Mother_fucker_!'

_Where's Merrick? Or hey, Kick might decide now's a good time to drop by! What time is it? Keegan should be back. _

The voice in my head was throwing suggestions at me, but none of them were plausible. None of them even gave off the tiniest flicker of hope. Merrick was probably dead himself. Kick was usually gone weeks at a time. Keegan was most likely still mid-flight.

Rorke stomped his boot down onto my Dad's head, holding it in place. I jerked forward once, but then I saw the pistol that was pressing into Dad's temple. I froze, and time seemed to stop. I couldn't breathe. I couldn't blink. I couldn't _move_. Everything just fucking stopped and came to a stand still. Everything except Rorke, 'Oh you are right, Elias... I'm not a Ghost. I'm the man that hunts them and sends them back to the other side.'

He pulled the trigger, and the devastating sound of a gun shot rang out as Rorke ended the life of the only parent we had left in this world.

A scream was ripped painfully from my lungs and tears burned searing hot trails down my cold cheeks. But then I went numb with the realisation that it was all over. Dad wasn't going to save us from Rorke because he was dead. We had just seen said psychopath shoot a bullet through his brain. And Ghosts always finish their mission. Without a doubt, we were next.

_It was all over_...


	19. Sin City 2

_**Sorry I didn't have this up when I said I would! Life was getting in the way again. But this chapter is super, extra long to make up for it. The bit at the beginning spawned from the Rorke file where it says he took the remaining operatives for "interrogation", and everything mentioned about Ajax in here is also from another couple of Rorke files. I just had to put it all in, and this is why I split it up into 2 parts haha. I could've probably gotten off with splitting it into 3 tbh! But I didn't want to drag this out for too long. So here you go my amazing readers. Enjoy! x**_

_**(P.S. Thanks to MillionPiecesOfTheSky for the song suggestion!)**_

* * *

_You won't break me,_  
_Or silence this heartbeat,_  
_Your words, they mean nothing._

_- Break Free (Of Mice & Men)_

* * *

In the military, death was part of the package deal. It was a fact that you would see your comrades fall. Some of them might just be the aquaintance you only spoke to on the field, or some of them might be friends that you had grown close to on your days off. But no matter who they were, when you had to watch them go down in a shower of blood, it hurt. However, it was mandatory that you take death in your stride. You had to feel the sadness, then let it go and carry on. I had done so many times before. I honoured the fallen, I shed my tears and I pushed it to the back of my mind and kept going. But I had never _ever_ imagined I would be saying goodbye to my father in such a way.

I don't know how long Rorke left his body there to turn cold. I don't know how long he left us there to watch his clothes soak up the blood seeping from his multiple wounds. It seemed like hours and hours, but in reality, it was probably closer to mere minutes. By the time he returned from whatever it was he was doing in the hallway, the image of my Dad's lifeless corpse had branded itself vividly into my brain. I was almost glad that we weren't going to survive this. Dying was surely better than the nightmares I would have to endure.

He had ordered his men to remove Dad's body and then they had gotten to work with moving us. We were each assigned two soldiers that took us back down to the control room where we had first been gassed, and then forced to our knees in front of Rorke himself. The room was filled with Feds, and I would've felt humiliated any other time, but I was having a little trouble feeling anything more than a crushing sense of loss right now. Hesh was taking it a different way and using his grief to fuel a terrifying anger. While he continued to inform Rorke to all the ways he was going to make him suffer, Logan just kept his head dipped and his teeth clenched. Every time he drew a ragged breath, worry flashed through my chest, but then I remembered it didn't matter. If Logan was to die now, we would be right behind him.

'Hm... Right then.' Rorke rubbed his chin after a few moments of just observing us and then clicked his fingers, twisting to signal one of his soldiers, 'Bring him in!' Curiosity pricked at me and I lifted my head at the sound of a scuffle.

'Get off of me! Don't _touch _me, you piece of shit!'

'Merrick!' I gasped. I couldn't recall a time where I had been so relieved to see his stupid face. He struggled against the Fed who was walking him over to us and when they kicked his legs out beneath him to lower him down to our level, I let myself fall forwards against him and pressed my face into his shoulder. I don't know what came over me. I'd only ever really seen him as one of my father's annoying friends who was fun to wind up, but right now I was looking to him for a life-line of some sorts; the protective kind of comfort that I had only ever found with my Dad. There was still a part of me that needed to know we were safe in the company of someone so familiar.

'I saw... I saw Elias.' His voice was low and heavy with the same pain that had been pulling at my own heart - probably the reason why he hadn't shoved me away yet, 'I'm so sorry.' I shook my head and squeezed my eyes shut.

'Don't.' I felt my throat close up and a hot prickling sensation burned my nose.

'As sweet as this is, I'm on a bit of a tight schedule,' Rorke grabbed my shoulder and threw me down away from Merrick, 'And I still need to know where you're hiding that damn sniper of yours.'

'You really expect us to tell you _anything_ after what you _just _did? God help me, I will tear your fucking face off!' Hesh made a noise that sounded horribly like the snarls I usually heard from Riley when he was on the attack, and hell, even _I _cowered away from it once I had rolled myself back up onto my knees.

'You talk a big game, son.' Rorke sighed and patted my brother's cheek hard, 'But you're not quite ready to play in my league yet.'

'_Fuck _yourself.' A glob of spit flew from Hesh's mouth, landing by the crook of Rorke's elbow. He flexed his muscles as he wiped it off slowly and I swallowed back a squeak. They were almost the size of my head, and if he was to punch Hesh again - like, _really _punch him -, he would definitely break something in his face.

'Keegan's not here.' Merrick spoke quickly to turn Rorke's attention away from my brother.

'You don't say?' Rorke said sarcastically, 'What I want to know is where he is exactly.'

'I'm not telling you shit.' Merrick narrowed his eyes and stared off with Rorke for an excruciating minute before Rorke's lips quirked up into a smirk.

'Funny. That was the very same words Ajax said before he told me about this place.' When his words registered, a dead weight feeling fell into my stomach, rocking a sickly wave of nausea throughout my entire body. Ajax had broken? Dad was dead because of... _Ajax_?

Rorke chuckled darkly when neither of us answered, 'How else do you think I knew where you'd be? It took me a while to get it out of him, mind you... He gave you plenty to be proud of, _Captain_.' He hissed the word and crouched in front of him, 'Do you want to know the exact moment he broke? I had him begging for his life. Poor bastard didn't-' There was a sickening crack and Rorke stumbled back. He was clutching his nose and it was with grim satisfaction that I noticed the blood dripping through his fingers. I glanced over at Merrick and there was a faint red mark between his eyes from where he had slammed his head into Rorke's face.

I instinctively leaned a little closer into Logan when Rorke wiped up his nose with the back of his hand and glared at Merrick. It held so much malice. If it had been me caught under that stare, I wasn't entirely sure how I would fair up, but Merrick kept his chin tilted and his expression neutral.

Rorke swung his fist and I flinched when his knuckles connected with Merrick's jaw. He didn't give him a chance to recover before he lifted his boot into his gut. Merrick doubled over, gasping for breath. Rorke crouched again and wrapped his fingers round his throat, pulling him back up to look him in the eye, 'You don't wanna talk about Ajax? Fine. Let's talk about Keegan instead. Where is he, Merrick?'

Merrick didn't utter a word and I admired him for managing to hold his tongue, but all it earned him was another hard kick to his mid-section. Once he had his breath back, he lifted his head and a ghost of a smile flashed over his mouth, 'You'll have to hit harder than that, Gabriel.' I turned my face into Logan's arm when Rorke let another punch fly, and another, and then another.

'He's in San Diego.' Logan spoke suddenly and quietly. I moved my head an inch to check Rorke's reaction and I was glad to see that he had stopped. My eyes darted to Merrick and I swallowed hard when I saw him spit out a mouthful of blood onto the floor. His cheek was already starting to swell and bruise, and I didn't fail to notice the trail of scarlet dripping from his nose.

'Are you sure about that, kid?' Rorke towered over Logan and I reflexively shrank down lower.

'Yes.'

'You see...' Rorke sighed and got down on one knee, 'I think you're lying.'

'I'm not.'

'Really? Because I have men stationed all over San Diego. They're doubled at the dig site. If Keegan was there, I would sure know about it.'

'He's good.' Logan shifted uncomfortably.

'He's not that good. I'll give you points for trying though.' Rorke laid a hand on my brother's shoulder, 'Where is he really, kid?' Logan followed Merrick's example and kept his mouth shut this time. He had tried, and it had fallen through. We could rattle off a thousand more cities where he could be, but Rorke was smarter than that. He would be able to see right through us all.

'Looks like we're going to have to keep doing this the hard way.' Rorke sighed again and hit Logan with a quick, clean head butt, knocking him back.

'I'm gonna make sure you burn for this, you twisted _fuck_!' Hesh burst out.

'Hesh!' I finally barked. I didn't want him getting the same beating Merrick had, and I sure as hell didn't want both of my brothers being shot.

'That's right. Listen to your sister, junior.' Rorke laughed over his shoulder at Hesh, then turned his gaze on me. I looked into his eyes and was immediately seized with the fear I had first felt upon waking up again. It was like an icy pair of hands had gripped my heart and Dad's voice drifted through my head. "_He's not going to hurt either of you ever, got it_?" That was what he had told me when we came back from Caracas. He said they would catch Rorke before he had a chance to do this.

Tears sprung to my eyes and I lowered my gaze, but apparently Rorke wasn't going to just let me watch the floorboards. His fingers clamped round my chin and he yanked my head back up so roughly, I thought I heard my neck click, 'What's wrong, princess?'

I felt a drop of liquid leak down my face and drip from my chin. His tone was tormenting, lowered to a teasingly soft volume the moment he saw the way my eyes glistened, 'It hurts, doesn't it? Yeah... Of course it does. You know, it's only going to get worse if you don't tell me where to find Keegan.'

My head shook of it's own accord, 'No.'

'No, it doesn't hurt or no, you won't tell me?'

'I'm not telling you where Keegan is.' I confirmed. Merrick made a noise in the back of his throat and I glanced over at him quickly. He caught my eye and nodded once, lifting one corner of his bust lips in an encouraging smile. In other words - _Keep it up, kid._

'You sound sure about that.' Rorke rocked back onto his heels, 'But we both know that you're not as confident as you sound. And... Just between you and me?' He leaned forward again until I could see the dirt that dusted his nose, 'You're going to be the first one to crack.'

'Try me.' My hands shook behind my back and I twisted my fingers together to give myself the illusion that I really was as strong as I sounded.

'You asked for it.' He sighed heavily and pushed himself back up into a standing position, 'You're just like your daddy. Big on the whole "family" crap,' He quoted the air with his fingers as circled round me and Logan, stopping behind Hesh. As I watched, he unsheathed a knife and laid it gently against my brother's forehead, 'How about we start by carving up the loud one first?' The cold fingers round my heart gripped tighter and I swallowed a gasp. I couldn't react. Reaction was what he wanted, and I just _couldn't_ give it to him.

'It's okay, Ella. He can carve me up all he wants. I'm still gonna find a way to break every fucking bone in his body.' Hesh's voice hardened and he rolled his eyes back to look up at Rorke. He even extended his neck further to give him easier access to his face and throat, 'Come on then, asshole. Do it.'

'You won't be so tough when I'm done with you, kid.' Rorke ran the tip of the blade along Hesh's skin, stopping by his temple. He looked over at me before pressing it in. A small bead of blood bubbled up past the steel and I tried to hold myself back from screaming at him to stop. Hesh winced, but took it like an absolute champ, even when the blade dragged it's way past his cheekbone. It didn't need to be said for us to understand each other. No matter what, we would keep Keegan safe from this crazy bastard.

The coarse sound of a throat being cleared caught our small group's attention. It was one of the Fed's. His expression was virtually non-existent thanks to his helmet, but by the way he raised his hands slightly and stepped carefully closer, it was plain to see that he was shitting himself about interrupting his boss.

'The chopper's here, sir.'

'Damn.' Rorke growled and tucked his now bloodied knife back into it's respective holster, 'Tell them I'm on my way.' The Fed nodded once and then left in quite the hurry. Rorke looked at us all in turn and then gave a small huff of annoyance, 'Well, as fun as this has been, I have somewhere that I need to be. But just so you all know, I'm gonna find that son of a bitch Keegan, and I'll make sure he suffers.' He walked away and left his words hanging heavy in the air. The thought of Rorke ever getting his hands on Keegan was enough to make make my stomach heave and push a mouthful of bile up my throat. I forced it back down and watched Rorke's back as he stopped at the door to talk to one of his soldiers. I couldn't lip read, and he was too far out of ear-shot to hear what he was telling him, but I was willing to bet it wasn't good news for us.

I had so much I wanted to say to the three men next to me. Thank you, mainly. But I knew they wouldn't appreciate the soppiness and decided instead on just sending up a silent prayer for each of them in turn. Not that I believed in God. But just in case, ya know?

'The boss wants him alive.' A couple of the Feds clomped up to us and I heard Logan take a gasping breath when the shortest one pointed at him. I could only imagine what was going through his mind. He had just watched his father die, and now he was going to have to watch the rest of his family go the same way. He was going to be alone, and that was one of the only things that really scared Logan.

The tallest soldier nodded and pulled out his pistol, cocking it against the side of Hesh's head. To my surprise, he stayed quiet. His expression was that of pure digust, and I saw the way he looked at Logan. I felt weird watching them, knowing that they were having their moment to say a silent goodbye, and when I turned my head away, I saw something glint brightly in the building opposite us.

My brows furrowed and I tilted my head. It flashed twice more and my eyes stayed drawn to the way it caught the light. _What the..._? A shot was fired and my mouth opened in a silent scream. I expected to see Hesh slumping to the floor, but he was still alive and waiting for the bullet to pierce his skull. It was the soldier who was away to execute him that fell. There was another shot, and another Fed went down. That's when my sights honed in on the laser that was darting around the room.

A sniper. _Our_ sniper.

If I thought the relief to see Merrick was insane, it was nothing compared to the feeling that overcame me when I realised that Keegan was back. And now he was giving us a chance to do something other than sit here and wait for the Feds to kill us when they realised we had his support.

'Hesh! Now!' Merrick and Hesh both leapt to their feet and threw themselves at two of the soliders standing closest to them. Hesh had finally managed to wriggle one of his hands out of his restraints, and I wasn't sure how Merrick was holding up. I was distracted by fingers brushing my skin as the ropes fell from my own wrists. When Logan had been heaved up off the floor to be taken down here, his hands had been tied again, but not behind his back. Rorke had probably thought there was no need to worry about him as he was basically already dead and too out of energy to try anything.

He regarded me with tired eyes and pushed me towards the pistol our "executioner" had dropped, 'Go.' He mouthed. I slid towards an over-turned chair and took cover behind it, quickly aiming and shooting at the Feds who were still standing. When they were all down, I used the sides of the chair to pull myself back up. My legs felt weak and wobbly, and I took a moment to restore my equilibrium. I lowered my head to take a few deep, cleansing breaths and noticed that the laser sight was aimed at my shoulder. I glanced up in the general direction of where it was coming from and then looked back down. The dot wiggled over my skin and a smile tugged at my lips. I took the hint and raised my hand in acknowledgment.

'Merrick, you okay?' Hesh asked. I turned back to face the other three and saw the way Merrick's face was screwed up slightly in pain. He was standing over Hesh, who was fiddling with one of the enemy comm's.

'Rib's broken, but I can move. We got to get going.'

'Keegan, we're up and moving,' When Hesh spoke again, I realised that he had managed to tap into Keegan's frequency from the equipment he had picked up. Smart, 'Get here as soon as you can.'

I swiped up an assault rifle as I stepped over the bloodied body of the soldier Hesh had wrestled and tried not to be put out at the fact he was getting to hear Keegan's voice and I wasn't.

'We need to make it to the west side of the building. It's our best chance of getting out of here.' Merrick was limping on ahead and I wanted to help him out a little, but he was way too stubborn for that. I offered my support for Logan instead, who was trying his absolute best to keep up a decent speed despite his obvious discomfort from his stomach wound.

Hesh held one finger up to his lips as we approached the door, making us all hush up. I listened hard and counted three... No, four voices? I held up four fingers and Hesh nodded in agreement. I slipped away from Logan and pushed Merrick back gently. It would be quicker for the two least injured to clear the room, and that's exactly what we did.

'Where's Keegan?' Merrick asked. My heart skipped happily at the very sound of his name, but I was trying to concentrate on the chatter coming through the enemy radio. From what I could pick up, they were all aware that we had escaped, and they were rallying themselves to come find us.

'He's on his way.' Hesh said.

'Grab that radio. We can put some distance between us and them.' Merrick gestured towards me and I quickly detached it from the Fed's jacket.

'Sounds like they heard us.' Logan staggered forward and leaned his weight onto Hesh for a few seconds.

'They're sending more of them our way.' I bit the inside of my cheek worriedly and then followed them towards the next set of double doors, turning down the volume on the radio just in case we had to stay quiet.

'Moving to the kitchen, why?' Hesh said suddenly. I turned to look at him, but when I saw his fingers twitch over the comm he had acquired, I realised he was talking to Keegan, not himself, 'How many?... Ugh, dammit.' I glowered at only being able to hear one side of the conversation.

Hesh made us move a bit quicker through the kitchen, much to my annoyance. I wouldn't have had a problem with the pace if it hadn't been for the fact that Merrick's rib was broken and Logan was potentially dying... _Again_.

'Son of a _bitch_.' Merrick stumbled when we rounded the corner and even though he was much bigger than I was, it was by reflex that I jumped forward to stop him from hitting the ground. My knees almost buckled with his weight, but I managed to help him back up into a decent standing position.

'Keegan.' Hesh said. The hint of relief in his tone made me head snap up and I almost burst out crying there and then, 'We gotta hide now.'

'Hide in here. Quick!' Keegan jerked his thumb towards the abandoned office behind him. I would've gone of my own accord, I swear, but just seeing him here and alive and after what had just happened...

I wanted to scream at him and slap his stupid face for not being here sooner, but at the same time, I wanted to kiss him and thank him for just being here _now_. I settled for throwing my arms round his neck and I had to choke back the sob that tried to escape me. I half expected him to push me off, but he just curled his free arm around my waist and carried me into the office behind the others, 'Down! Get down!' He hissed. He laid me into the shadows behind him while he crouched by the door. I hunkered down and pressed my back up against the wall, hardly daring to breathe.

The sound of a door banging open made me jump and Keegan reached one of his hands back to give my knee a quick, reassuring squeeze. I couldn't see how many soldiers came thundering through the kitchen, but I did see the bright beam of a torch as it swung into where we were all hiding. It landed directly onto Hesh's face, and the Fed went to shout out that he had found us. Unfortunately for him, he had taken one tiny step too far into the office and Keegan sprung up to grab at him. He clamped one hand firmly over his mouth and his nose and hauled him back down into the dark, holding him in a vice like grip until his struggles became weaker from the lack of oxygen in his system. Eventually he just stopped and his body became limp. Keegan kept hold of him for a few more seconds - just to be on the safe side - and then pushed him away into the corner.

'Keep low. There's gonna be more of them.' Logan muttered as we all rose warily to our feet again. Keegan was the first one out seeing as he was the only one wearing any form of gear, and as much as I wanted to stick as close to him as I could, there were still two of us who were injured and they needed more attention than he did.

Keegan held up a hand to stop us before we entered the shopping mall and we heard a group of Feds chattering rapidly in their own language, setting up the tactic to try and box us in as they ran in the opposite direction.

'Attention everyone.' Rorke's voice crackled over the speakers set up around the hotel and my mouth dried up. Logan rubbed my back when he felt me tense up and I dug my fingers into his arm when that _bastard _continued his announcement, 'Some friends of mine have gone missing. Return them to me dead or alive and you will have done your country a great service. Merrick, Hesh, Logan, Ella... If you're listening... Good luck.' A shudder tore through me and I had to really force myself to peel my fingers from Logan's arm.

'Thanks for the shoutout, asshole.' Merrick spat. It almost brought a smile to my face, but we still had a whole lot of hotel to cover before we were out of here, and the odds really weren't turned in our favour.

The shopping mall was eerily quiet, but it gave us a chance to turn up the radio again and find out what was going on as we moved. They were heading straight towards us.

'We won't be able to get around them.' Merrick said.

'Wait until they get close.' We all crouched behind the wall that was bang in the centre of the stairs and peered over the top. A large group of Feds were moving up the stairs towards us. When they reached the chandelier that had fallen and crashed into the fountain in the middle of the floor, Hesh nodded.

'Alright, Keegan. Kick it off.' I'll admit, I was surprised at the way Hesh was stepping up. And I was even more surprised that Keegan had taken the order. None the less, it felt good to have someone take charge and tell us what to do. It felt normal, and that was exactly what we needed right now.

The fight to clear out the mall was... Intense, to say the least. I would've felt a lot more confident if I'd had a vest or a jacket, but we were practically naked for them, and every shot fired could've been the one that ended it all for us. After the most nerve-wracking firefight of my entire life, we reached the bottom and weaved our way round the slot machines.

'We need to get through that gate.' Hesh pointed with his gun.

'I got it.' Keegan jogged forward and dropped down on one knee in front of the gate. He hooked his fingers beneath it and with a soft grunt, pushed it up and held it there for us to get under. It was a display of power that was pleasantly distracting, reminding me of the last time he had shown me just how strong he really was and... _That_ was enough of _that_.

'Wait, where's Riley?' Hesh drew himself up short and twirled to pin us with wide eyes.

'It got chaotic pretty quick. Haven't seen him since we came to.' Merrick shrugged and then winced as the movement caused him some degree of pain, 'Come on.' We followed him in silence, down and round the unmoving escalators. Merrick informed us that it wasn't much further before we were out and I heard Logan give a groan that sounded like a garbled "Finally!"

Like we had done before, Hesh and I took up stance on either side of the door. I inclined my head towards the wood and Hesh stepped closer to the middle so he could bump it open with his shoulder. Then we all wished he hadn't.

There must've been at least six hostiles in the hall, and they had timed their gas grenades perfectly so that they rolled to our feet as soon as the door swung open.

'Back it up! Back it up!' Merrick yelled. An awful sense of panic threatened to paralyse me, but then I felt someone tug at my hair to get me to run and my body kicked itself into over drive, powered by the thought of what would happen if we were to get caught again.

We were charging in the opposite direction, but were blocked off by another group of Feds with more of that sickly green gas.

'Shit, shit, shit!'

'Left! Go left!'

'Through here! Go, go!' It didn't matter who was shouting. All that mattered was where we were going. And apparently it was straight through a fucking window. Keegan smashed through it first, leaving a gaping hole so that the rest of us didn't get maimed, and it was one of those times where you knew perfectly that this was probably the stupidest idea in the entire world, but at the same time you didn't even have to_ think _about whether or not you were going to do it, because that stupid idea was the only thing that would save your life.

So I followed the rest of them without a single moment of hesitation, and then we were sliding down the side of our hotel. The very first time I had ever seen a picture of this place, I thought it had been a ridiculous idea to build it like a pyramid, but now I was blessing the genius that made the design.

I was seconds away from actually enjoying the feeling when suddenly, I wasn't sliding anymore. I was falling. And I definitely didn't enjoy the feeling of landing. The breath had been torn straight from my lungs and all I could do was lie there and wonder if I was dying. My eyes were open and the world was spinning, but once the pain in my chest began to ease and I started to breathe again, I stopped witnessing the hotel interior rotate at sickening speeds.

'Ella?'

'I'm good.' My voice seemed to echo and I pushed myself up onto my elbows, not minding the glass that embedded itself into my skin. I could hardly feel it anyway.

'Logan? Logan! You okay? How 'bout you Merrick?' Hesh's head snapped back and forth between the both of them in an almost comical fashion.

'I'm good, but we need to move before those choppers find out where we are.' Merrick kept an arm wrapped tightly around his ribs as Hesh helped him up.

_What choppers_? I wondered to myself. The loud whirring of rotors above us made me look up and a shadow flitted over the light that was seeping in through the hole in the ceiling. Ah... Those choppers.

'If we can make it to the strip, I can get us a ride out of here.' Keegan walked over to me and with a gentleness I never thought possible, he lifted me from the ground and set me on my feet. He glanced to the left and then stretched out his hand for Logan, who looked more than a little worse for the wear.

'Take it slow. We're gonna be outnumbered.' Merrick said. We all nodded and then started to move out. We had just reached the front door when a familiar bark made my face light up.

'Riley!' He flew from nowhere, throwing himself at a soldier guarding our exit. Once his jaws were clamped round his throat, it took him all of three seconds to tear it out and take him down.

'Good boy!' I said. He was away to turn and come to the sound of my voice, but then he gave a pained yelp and fell to the ground. My stomach plummeted and my fingers tightened round my gun, '_No_!' A flash of red passed my eyes when I pin pointed the bastard that had shot our dog and I emptied half a clip into him, too angry to worry about reserving ammo.

'Riley...' Hesh darted out to get to him, not worrying about being out in the open. He knew we would cover him to the best of our ability. We thinned out the first line of hostiles until it was safe enough to join Hesh in kneeling next to Riley. The fur over his back haunch was quickly becoming matted with his blood, and it looked nothing short of lethal.

'He's okay. Bullet went straight through.' Hesh caugh my horrified expression. I smoothed a hand over Riley's face, trying to close my ears against the sound of his whining. If there was one thing I absolutely could not bare to listen to, it was an animal in pain. Especially _our _dog, another cherished member of our family that was going to die if we didn't get him out of here.

Hesh glanced up at our brother, 'Logan, can you-' He stopped himself when he remembered that Riley wasn't the only one who had been shot today.

'I'll carry him.' I cut in quickly. Four sets of eyes turned to look at me incredulously and I growled in frustration, 'I _can_ carry him.' I used to haul Riley around all the time when he was a pup. I had never attempted to do so when he had grown to his full size, but Logan and Merrick sure as hell couldn't do it, and we needed Hesh and Keegan to help clear us a way to the strip. Leaving Riley to die out here absolutely wasn't an option. I had to do this.

'Okay... But _don't _drop him, Ella, or I swear...'

'Don't start your shit with me, David.' I glared at him and slid my hands underneath Riley, 'Move it, then!' I waited until they had bolted towards an old, broken statue before hoisting Riley up into my arms.

'Shit!' His weight was almost too much and my teeth snapped together as I strained to keep him from falling, 'Fuck, you've gotten real heavy, boy.' I panted. I set him down behind the statue and leaned back against the base to check how much ammo I had left in my mag.

'Command, we're on the exterior of the hotel taking heavy fire from enemy birds! Where's our exfil?' Keegan shouted through his comm. He waited a few seconds then slammed his fist into the ground in exasperation, 'Shit! I got nothing!' He didn't get a response until we were almost to the strip by ourselves. It hadn't been easy, and there were a few times where I almost _did_ drop Riley, but then I thought about the stories of how some mothers had literally lifted cars to save their kids. If those woman could do that, then I could sure as hell carry a dog from cover to cover.

We had just ducked through the rusted remains of a couple of tram carriages and were hiding behind another fragmented Egyptian statue when our back-up got here. At first it was just two jets that zoomed past, laying down fire to the Feds that were still grouped on the road. Then a chopper came into land, and I saw the grin that flashed over Hesh's face. He was still tapped into their frequency, and when he came out with a violent, 'Hell, yeah!' I gathered we were home free.

He rushed over to take Riley from me, relieving me of the admittedly strenuous task of carrying him any further, 'Come on. We're leaving.'

* * *

We were being taken back to a carrier in the middle of the ocean. The USS Liberator, I think they said. I hadn't been paying much attention. The only thing that had interested me was that they had promised Logan, Merrick and Riley the medical attention they were now in dire need of. The adrenaline was wearing off, and the pain was beginning to properly kick in.

I had spent the better half of the journey coiled up against Keegan. At first I had wanted to just sit in silence with my thoughts, but when I looked up at Hesh and saw one single tear roll down his cheek as his entire frame trembled, I realised that the last thing I needed was to be able to think. I would've gone to be with him, but he had his legs dangling over the edge of the chopper with his back to us - a clear signal that he didn't _want_ to be disturbed.

So I'd shuffled closer to Keegan and tucked myself into his side. There had been a moment of hesitation, and then he had curled his arm round my waist and held me even closer. He moved his other hand to twine his fingers through mine, trying to offer me as much comfort as he could in the presence of so many people. We didn't speak, and there was no need for us to. I'd yet to say two words directly to him, but there would be a time and a place. This wasn't it.

The way Keegan rubbed his thumb over my knuckles was soothing, and I found my eyes drifting shut as I began to relax into him. But then Hesh spoke so suddenly and harshly that I jerked up.

'It's okay, it's only Hesh.' Keegan's breath ruffled my hair as he pulled me back against him and laid his chin on the top of my head. I nodded once and sank into him, but I kept my eyes open and glued to my brother.

'Merrick, we've gotta go after him. I _want_ Rorke!' Hesh's muscles bunched as his fingers clenched against the steel beneath him, making the three star tattoos on the back of his arm look like they were expanding and ready to burst.

'Negative, Hesh.' Merrick sounded like he had just been waiting for this conversation, 'The Federation satellites are moving into position. If they go live, the Feds can strike targets anywhere on the globe.'

A pause, then a stifled sigh from my brother, 'So what's the plan?'

'We risk everything we have left, including our last carrier, and we take it straight into the heart of Federation territory. We hit them on the ground and we hit them in the sky. It's all or nothing.'


End file.
